The life of John Ledyard, the American traveller; comprising selections from his journals and correspondence

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THE LIFE OF JOHN LEDYAKD.

LIFE

JOHN LEDYA

AMERICAN TRAVELLER;

COMPRISIN-G SELECTIONS

FROM HIS JOURNALS AND CORRESPONDENCE.

BY JARED SPARKS,

CAMBRIDGE, i
PUBLISHEF^ ^^ HILLIARD AND BROWN ;

AND BY
HILLIARD, GRAY, LITT ■'^^' ^^^ WILKINS, AND RICHARDSON AND LORD,
BOSTON- G A.^° <^- CARVILL, NEW YORK; CAREY, LEA,
' ■ AND CAREY, PHILADELPHIA.

1828.

DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT.

District Clerk's Office.

Be it remembered, that on the twentyfourth day of November, 1827, in the
fiftysecond year of the Independence of the United States of America, Hil-
liard & Brown, of the said district, have deposited in this office the title
of a book, the right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words fol-
lowing, viz. . „ ,, . . c. I

•' Ihe Life of John Ledyard, the American Traveller; comprising Selec-
tions from his Journals and Correspondence. By Jared Sparks."

In coiifoimity to the act of the Congress of the United Slates, entitled " An
act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps,
charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the
limes therein mentioned ;" and also to an act, entitled " An act supplementa-
ry to an act, eiitillcd-' An act for the encouiagenient of learning, by securing
the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such
copies, during the limes therein mentioned,' and extending the benehts
thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other

'"''"'"^^■" JNO. W. DAVIS,

Clerk of the District of Massachiisetts.

CAMBRIDGE.

HilUard, Metcalf, and Company,
Printers to the University.

Hj

N

PREFACE.

Soon after the death of John Ledyard, the subject of the
fallowing memoir, some progress was made in collecting ma-
terials for an account of his life, by Dr Isaac Ledyard, then of
New York. The biographer's task was never begun, however,
and the project was abandoned j but the papers procured for the
purpose have been preserved by the family of Dr Ledyard, and
have furnished the facts for much the larger portion of the pres-
ent narrative. Researches have also been made in other quar-
ters, and important original letters obtained. Particular ac-
knowledgment is due to Mr Henry Seymour, of Hartford,
Connecticut, for the aid he has rendered in this respect. All
the papers that have been used are entitled to the credit of
unquestionable authenticity.

Wherever it could be done, without deviating too much from
a regular and proportionate train of events, the traveller has
been allowed to speak for himself. His manner of thinking,
as well as of acting, was so peculiar, that a true picture of his
mind and genius, his motives and feelings, could with difficulty
be exhibited in any other way with so much distinctness, as
through the medium of his own language. Free and full se-
lections from his letters and journals are interspersed. His in-
cessant activity, want of leisure, and few opportunities of prac-

VI PREFACE.

tising composition as an art, afTord an apology for the imperfec-
tions of his style, which the candid reader will regard in the
favorable light it deserves. His diction is never polished, and
his words are not always well chosen ; but his ideas are often
original, copious, well coiTjbined, and forcibly expressed.

In executing this work, the only aim has been to bring
together a series of facts, which should do justice to the fame
and character of a man, who possessed qualities and performed
deeds, that rendered him remarkable, and are worthy of being
remembered. If the author has been successful in this attempt,
he is rewarded for the labor it has cost him.

fi

f

I

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

Birth and parentage. — Early education. — Begins the study of the law.— -
Enters Dartmouth College with a view to qualify himself to be a mission-
ary among the Indians; — State of the Indian missions at that time. — His
fondness for theatrical exhibitions while at College. — Travels among the
Indians of the Six Nations. — His return to College, and adventure in visit-
ing a mountain. — Consti-ucts a canoe at Dartmouth College with his own
hands, and descends the Connecticut river in it alone to Hartford. — Dan-
gers of the passage. — His singular appearance when he met his friends. —
His enterprise compared to that of Mungo Park on the Niger. - - 1

CHAPTER II.

His singular letters to President Wheelock. — Commences the study of the-
ology.— His embarrassments on this occasion. — Visits several clergymen
on Long Island, and pursues his studies there for a short time. — Proposes
teaching a school. — Returns to Connecticut, and meets with disappoint-
ment in his hopes of being settled as a clergyman. — Abandons his purpose
of studying divinity. — Sails from New London on a voyage to Gibraltar.
— Enlists there as a soldier in the regular service. — Released at the so-
licitation of the captain of the vessel in which he sailed. — Returns home
by way of the Barbary Coast and the West Indies. — Resolves to visit
England, and seek for his wealthy family connexions in that countiy. —
Sails from New York to Plymouth. — Travels thence to London in ex-
treme poverty. — Realizes none of his expectations. — Enlists in the naval
service. — Gains an acquaintance with Captain Cook, and embarks with
him on his last voyage roimd the world, in the capacity of corporal of
marines. .---.---.-..20

CHAPTER III.

Ledyard's journal of his voyage with Captain Cook. — Testimony in his favor
by Captain Burney. — Sails for the Cape of Good Hope. — Thence to Ker-
guelen's Islands and the south of New Holland.— Character of the peo-

Vm CONTENTS.

pie on Van Diemen's Land. — Present state of the Colony there. — Arri^'es
in New Zealand. — Account of the people, their manners and peculiarities.
— Remarkable contrasts exhibited in their character. — Love adventure
between an EngUsh sailor and a New Zealand girl. — Omai, the Otahei-
tan. — Vessels depart from New Zealand, and fall in with newly discovered
islands. — Affecting story of three Otaheitans found on one of them. — Ar-
rival at the Friendly Islands. — People of Tongataboo. — Their condition,
mode of Uving, and amusements. — Ledyard passes a night -with the king.
— Wrestling and other athletic exercises described. — Fheworks exhibited
by Cook. — Propensity of the natives to thieving. — An instance in a chief
called Feenou, and the extraordinary measures used to recover the stolen
property. — Departure from Tongataboo. - - - - . - 37

CHAPTER IV.

Society Islands. — Otaheite. — Ledyard's description of the language, cus-
toms, religion, laws, and government of the natives. — Their probable faith
in the doctrine of transmigration. — Remarks on his mode of reasoning on
this subject. — His theory of the origin of customs and superstitions. —
Notions of a Deity among the Otaheitans. — Conduct of Omai. — Difl&cul-
ties attending the efforts to civiUze savages. — Sandwich Islands discov-
ered.— The vessels proceed to the American continent, and anchor in
Nootka Sound. — Appearance and manners of the people. — Indian wam-
pum.— The abundance of furs. — Cannibalism. — Curious digression on the
origin and practice of sacrifices. — Captain Cook passes Bering's Strait,
explores the northern ocean till stopped by the ice, and returns to the
island of Onalaska. — Sends Ledyard^ with two Indians in search of a Rus-
sian establishment on the coast. — His account of this adventure. — In
what manner he was transported in a canoe. — ^Village of Russians and In-
dians.— Hot baths. — Their habitations and manner of living described. —
Bering's vessel. — Ledyard returns to the ships, and reports to Captain
Cook. — Expedition returns to the Sandwich Islands. - - - - 61

CHAPTER V.

The ships anchored in Kearakekua bay. — First interviewwith the natives. —
Reverence with which they regarded Cook. — Tents erected for astronom-
ical observations. — Ceremonies at the meeting of Cook with the old
king. — Ledyard forms the project of ascending the high mountain in Ha-
waii, called by the natives Mouna Roa. — Description of his ascent, and
cause of his ultimate failure. — The natives begin to show symptoms of
tmeasiness at the presence of the strangers, and to treat them with disre-
spect.— Offended at the encroachment made on their Moral. — Cook de-
parts from Kearakekua bay, but is compelled to retiu-n by a hea\y storm,
that overtakes him, and injures his ships. — Natives receive him coldly. —

, CONTENTS. IX

-'rhey steal one of the ship's boats, which Cook endeavors to recover. —
Goes on shore for the purpose. — Is there attacked by the natives and
slain. — Ledyard accompanied him on shore, and was near his person when
kiUed. — His description of the event. — Expedition sails for Kamtschatka,
explores again the Polar seas, and returns to England. — Ledyard's opin-
ions respecting the first peopling of the South Sea Islands. — Other re-
marks relating to this subject, founded on the analogy of languages, and
manners of the people. — Characteristics of Ledyard's journal. — Estima-
tion in which he held Captain Cook. 92

CHAPTER VL

Ledyard returns to America — Interview with his mother after an absence of
«ight years. — Passes the winter in Hartford, and writes his Journal of Cook's
Voyage. — Visits New York and Philadelphia to concert with the mer-
chants the plan of a commercial expedition. — Robert Morris agrees to en-
gage in a trading voyage, under his direction, to the Northwest Coast. — '
Proceeds to Boston, and afterwards to New London and New York to
procure a vessel for the purpose. — Failure of the enterprise, after a year
had been spent in fruitless attempts to cany it into effect. — Letters to his
mother. — Makes a trial in New London to enhst the merchants of that
place in his scheme. — Was the first to propose a voyage for a merchan-
tile adventure to the Northwest Coast. — Sails for Cadiz. — Letters from
that city containing political remarks. — Sails for L'Orient. — Makes an
agreement with a company of merchants there to aid him in such a
voyage, as he had proposed in America. — After eight months' preparation,
it is given up. — Goes to Paris. - 126

CHAPTER VII.

Meets with Mr Jefferson at Paris. — Project of a voyage to the Northwest
Coast with Paul Jones, for the purpose of estabUshing a trading factory
there. — Proposes travelling across the continent from Nootka Soiond to
the United States — Thinks of going to Africa with Mr Lamb. — Remarks
on Paris, and various objects that came under his notice. — The king at
Versailles. — Mr Jefferson and Lafayette. — The Queen at St Cloud. — Ap-
plication through Baron Grimm to the Empress of Russia, to obtain per-
mission for him to travel across her dominions to Bering's Strait. — Colonel
Humphreys. — Contemplates going to Petersburgh, before the Empress'
answer is received. — Curious anecdote of Sir James Hall. — Visit to the
hospitals in Paris. — Tour in Normandy. — Proceeds to London, where he
engages a passage on board a vessel just ready to sail for the Northwest
Coast. — Colonel Smith's letter to Mr Jay. — The voyage defeated. — Re-
solves anew to go to Russia. — Sir Joseph Banks and other gentlemen

contribute funds to aid him in his travels. 153

h

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VIII.

Ledyard proceeds to Hamburg.— Goes to Copenhagen, where he meets
Major Langbom, another American traveller. — Endeavors to persuade
Langbom to accompany him on his tour, but in vain. — Continues his
route to Sweden, and is disappointed in not being able to cross the Gulf
of Bothnia on the ice. — Journey round the Gulf into the Aictic Circle on
foot, through Sweden, Lapland, and Finland. — Maupertiiis' description of
the cold at Tornea. — Airives at Petersburg, where he is befriended by
Professor Pallas and others. — Procures a passport from the Empress,
through the agency of Count Segur, the French ambassador. — Sets out
for Siberia, and travels by way of Moscow to Kazan, a town on the river
Wolga. — Crosses the Uralian Moimtains. Some account of the city of
Tobolsk. — Proceeds to Barnaoul and Tomsk. — Desciiptions of the country
and the inhabitants — Character and condition of the exiles at Tomsk. —
Fossil bones. — Curious mounds and tombs of the ancient natives. —
Arrives at Irkutsk. 173

CHAPTER IX.

Residence at Irkutsk. — Miscellaneous remarks on the inhabitants, and the
productions of the countr}'. — Accounts of the Tartars. — Unsuccessful at-
tempts to civilize them. — Fur trade on the American coast. — Visit to the
Lake Baikal. — Further remarks on the character and manners of the Kal-
muks and other Tartars. — Leaves Irkutsk for the river Lena. — Scenery
around the Baikal. — Rivers flowing into it. — Extraordinary depth of its
waters.— They are fresh, but contain seals, and fish, peculiar to the
ocean. — Estimate of the number of rivers in Siberia, and of the quantity
of water they pour into the Frozen Ocean. — Ledyard proceeds down the
Lena in a bateau. — Romantic scenery along the margin of the river. —
Hospitality of the inhabitants. — Ends his voyage at Yakutsk. - - 208

CHAPTER X.

Interview with the Commandant at Yakutsk. — Stopped at this place on ac-
count of the advanced state of the season. — His severe disappointment
at this event. — Detained under false pretences. — Takes up his residence
in Yakutsk for the winter. — Elephant's bones on the banks of the Lena,
and in other parts of the countiy. — General remarks on the various tribes
of Tartars in Siberia. — Characteristics of savages in cold and warm cli-
mates.— Kahnuks have two modes of writing. — Their manner of living. —
The Yakuti Tartars. — Influence of religion upon them. — The love of free-
dom common to all the Tartars. — Their dwellings. — Intermarriages be-
tween the Russians and Tartars. — In what degree the color of descend-
ants is affected by such intermarriages. — Peculiarities of features in the
Tartar countenance. — Form and use of the Tartar pipe. — Dress. — DifB-

CONTENTS. XI

culty of taking vocabularies of unknown languages. — Marriage ceremo-
nies.— Notions of theology. — Practice of scalping. — Wampum. — Classifi-
cation of the Tartars and North American Indians. — Language a criterion
forjudging of the affinity between the different races of men. — Causes of
the difference of color in the human race. — Tartars and American Indians
the same people. 227

CHAPTER XI.

Climate in Siberia. — Extreme cold. — Congelation of quicksilver. — Images in
Russian houses. — Attention paid to dogs. — Ice windows. — Jealousy of
the Russians. — Moral condition of the Russians in Siberia. — Ledyard's
celebrated eulogy on women. — Captain Billings meets him at Yakutsk,
on his return from the Frozen Ocean. — Bering's discovery of the strait
called after his name. — Russian voyages of discover}^ — Bering's death. —
Russian fur trade. — Billings's expedition. — His incompetency to the un-
dertaking.— His instructions nearly the same as those drawn up by Peter
the Great for Bering. — Some of their principal features enumerated. - 25S

CHAPTER XII.

Ledyard departs from Yakutsk, and returns to Irkutsk up the Lena on the ice. —
Is seized by order of the Empress, and hurried off in the charge of two
guards. — Returns through Siberia to Kazan. — His remarks on the pe-
culiarity of his fate. — Further observations on the Tartars. — No good
account of them has ever been written. — Passes Moscow and arrives in
Poland. — Left by his guards, with an injunction never to appear again in
Russia. — Health much impaired by his sufferings. — Proceeds to Konigs-
berg, and thence to London. — Inquiry into the motives of the Empress
for her cruel treatment of him. — Her pretences of humanity not to be
credited. — Her declaration to Count Segur on the subject. — Dr Clarke's
explanation incorrect. — The true cause was the jealousy of the Russian
American Fur Company, by whose influence his recall was procured
from the Empress. — Lafayette's remark on her conduct in this particular, 273

CHAPTER XIII.

Interview with Sir Joseph Banks in London. — Engages to travel in Africa
under the auspices of the African Association. — Remarkable instance of
decision of character. — Letter to Dr Ledyard, containing miscellaneous
particulars respecting his travels and circumstances. — Description of his
Siberian dresses. — Origin and purposes of the African Association. — An-
cient and present state of Africa. — Benefits of discoveries in that conti-
nent.— Letter from Ledyard to his mother. — His remarks to Mr Beaufoy
on his departvu'e for Egypt. — Visits Mr Jefferson and Lafayette in Paris. —

Xll CONTENTS.

Sails from Marseilles to Alexandria in Egypt. — Description of Alexandria,
in a letter to Mr Jefferson. — Arrives in Cairo. — Description of the city,
and of his passage up the Nile. 2S9

CHAPTER XIV.

Remarks on the appearance of the counti-y in passing up the Nile. — Con-
dition of a Christian at Cairo. — Interview with the Aga. — Miscellaneous
observations on the customs of the Arabs, and other races of people found
in Cairo. — Information respecting the interior of Africa. — Visit to the cara-
vans and slave markets. — The traveller's reflections on his circumstances
and prospects. — His last letter to Mr Jefterson. — Joins a caravan and pre-
pares to depart for Sennaar. — He is taken suddenly ill. — His death. —
Account of his person and character. 30S

ERRATA.

Page 140, line 20, before Cadiz 'msevt from.
" 178, '•' 2, and in several instances aftenvards. lor Langhorn read
Lnnsborn.

THE

LIFE AND TRAVELS

JOHN LEDYARD.

CHAPTER L

Birth and parentage. — Early education. — Begins the study of the law. — Enters
Dartmouth College with a view to qualify liimself to be a missionary among
the Indians. — State of the Indian missions at that time. — His fondness for
theatrical exhibitions while at College. — Travels among the Indians of the
Six Nations. — His return to College, and adventure in visiting a mountain.
Constructs a canoe at Dartmouth College with his own hands, and descends the
Connecticut river in it alone to Hartford. — Dangers of the passage. — His sin-
gular appearance when he met his friends. — His enterprise compared, to
that of Mungo Park on the Niger.

John Ledyard, the celebrated traveller, was born
in the year 1751. at Groton, in Connecticut, a small
village on the bank of the river Thames, opposite to
New London. The place of his birth is but a few
hundred yards from Fort Griswold, so well known in
the history of the American revolution.

His grandfather, named also John Ledyard, came
in early life to America, and settled at Southold, Long
Island, as a small trader in dry goods. He was a na-
tive of Bristol, England, and had been bred a mer-
chant in London. Being prosperous in business at
1

2 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

Southold, he was soon married to a lady of amiable
qualities and good fortune, the daughter of Judge
Young, a gentleman of character and influence in
that place. From Southold he removed to Groton,
where he purchased an estate, and resided many years.
He had ten children, and after the death of his
wife he removed to Hartford, in Connecticut,
.and there spent the remainder of his life. For his
second wife he married Mrs Ellery, a respectable
widow lady of Boston.

To his eldest son, who had the same name as him-
self, he gave the estate at Groton. He was a sea
captain, engaged in tho West India trade, a man of
sound understanding, vigorous constitution, and indus-
trious habits. But he died at the age of thirtyfive,
leaving a widow and four children, three sons and
one daughter, of whom the subject of this memoir
was the eldest. Colonel William Ledyard, the
brave commander in the memorable action of
Fort Griswold, who was slain after the capitula-
tion, was the second son.

It thus appears, that John Ledyard, the traveller,
was the third of that name in lineal descent. His
mother, who was the daughter of Robert Hempsted
of Southold, has been described as a lady of many
excellencies of mind and character, beautiful in per-
son, well informed, resolute, generous, amiable, kind,
and above all eminent for piety and the religious vir-
tues. Such a mother is the best gift of Heaven to
a family of helpless young children. In the present
instance all her courage and all her strength of char-
acter were necessary, to carry her through the duties

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. S

and trials, which devolved upon her. The small
estate, which had belonged to her husband in Groton,
was, by some strange neglect of her friends, or crimi-
nal fraud never yet explained, taken from her soon
after his death. During a visit to Long Island, the
deed, which she had left with a confidential person,
disappeared. As this deed was the only evidence of
her title to the property, and her claim could not be
substantiated without it, the whole reverted to its
former owner, her husband's father, who was still
living. The particulars of this transaction are not
now known, nor is it necessary to inquire into them.
It is enough to state the fact that such an event occur-
red, and that the widowed mother with four infant
children was thus thrown destitute upon the world.
In this condition she and her children repaired to the
house of her father in Southold, where they found pro-
tection and support. The estate at Groton after-
wards fell into the hands of Colonel William Ledyard.
It may be supposed, that misfortune did not weak-
en her parental solicitude, nor make her neglectful of
her high trust. The education of her children was
the absorbing object of her thoughts and exertions.
Her eldest son was now of an age to receive impres-
sions, that would become deeply wrought into his
mind, and give a decided bias to his future character.
In the marked features of his eventful life, eccentric
and extraordinary as it was, full of temptations, cross-
es, and sufferings, may often be traced lineaments of
virtues, and good impulses, justly referred to such a
source, to the early cares and counsels of a judicious,
sensible, and pious mother. Nor were these counsels

4 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

scattered in a vacant mind, nor these cares wasted on
a cold heart ; in his severest disappointments and pri-
vations, in whatever clime or among whatever people,
whether contending with the fierce snows of Siberia,
or the burning sands of Africa, the image of his moth-
er always came with a beam of joy to his soul, and
was cherished there with delight. Such of his
letters to her, as have been preserved, are written
with a tenderness of filial affection, that could flow
only from an acute sensibility and a good heart.

A few years after leaving Groton, and settling at
Southold, Mrs Ledyard was married to a second hus-
band, Dr Moore of the latter place. At this time her
son John was taken into the family of his grandfather
at Hartford, who, from that period, seems to have
considered him as wholly under his charge. Tradi-
tion tells of peculiarities in his manners and habits at
this early age, of acts indicating the bent of his genius,
and the romantic disposition, that gave celebrity to
his after life. But no record of his schoolboy adven-
tures has come down to us, and we are left to conjec-
ture in what manner the wild spirits of a youth like
his would exhibit themselves. He attended the
grammar school in Hartford, it is to be presumed,
with commendable proficiency, since he was at first
designed for the profession of the law. Several
months were passed by him as a student in the office
of Mr Thomas Seymour, a respectable lawyer of that
place, who had married his aunt. Meantime his
grandfather died, and Mr Seymour became his guar-
dian, and took him to his own house. Whether Led-
yard turned his thoughts to the law by his voluntary

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 5

choice, or by the advice and wishes of his friends, who
desired to quiet his temper, by fixing him in some
settled pursuit, is not related ; most probably the lat-
ter, for it was soon manifest, that neither the profound
wisdom, the abstruse learning, nor the golden prom-
ises of the law, had any charms for him. It was
decided without reluctance on his part, therefore,
that he should leave the path, which he had
found so intricate, and in which he had made so
little progress, and enter upon one more congenial
to his inclination, and presenting objects more attrac-
tive to his taste and fancy.

Here was a difficult point to be determined. The
pursuit, which would accord best with the propensities,
temperament, and wishes of John Ledyard, and best
promote his future usefulness and success, was a thing
not to be decided, even at that time of his life, by the
common rules of judging in such cases ; it was a prelim-
inary, which no one probably would have been more
perplexed than himself to establish. Never was he ac-
customed to look forward with unwavering predilec-
tions, to prepare for contingencies, or to mark out a
course from which he would not stray. To be seeking
some distant object, imposing and attractive in his own
conceptions, and to move towards it on the tide of cir-
cumstances, through perils and difficulties, was among
the chief pleasures of his existence. On enterprises,
in which no obstacles were to be encountered, no
chances to be run, no disappointments to be appre-
hended, no rewards of hazardous adventure to be
looked for, he bestowed not a thought ; but let a pro-
ject be started, thickly beset with dangers, and prom-

b LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

ising success only through toils and sufferings, deeds
of courage, and the resolute efforts of an untiring
spirit, and not a man would grasp at it so eagerly, or
pursue it with so much intenseness of purpose. The
wholesome maxim of providing for the morrow rarely
found a place in his ethics or his practice ; and as he
never allowed himself to anticipate misfortunes, so he
never took any pains to guard against them.

He was now at the age of nineteen, with very
narrow means, few friends, and no definite prospects.
In this state of his affairs, as it was necessary for
something to be done, he was compelled to look
around him, and for a moment to exercise that fore-
sight, which the tenor of his life proves him to have
been so reluctant on most occasions to call to his aid.
And, after all, he was more indebted to accident, than
to his own deliberations, for the immediate events,
that awaited him. Dr Wheelock, the amiable and
pious founder of Dartmouth College, had been the in-
timate friend of his grandfather, and prompted by the
remembrance of this tie, he invited Ledyard to enter
his institution, recently established at Hanover, New
Hampshire, amidst the forests on the banks of the
Connecticut river. This offer was accepted, and
in the spring of 1772, he took up his residence at
this new seat of learning, with the apparent inten-
tion of qualifying himself to become a missionary
aniong the Indians.

His mother's wishes and advice had probably much
influence in guiding him to this resolution. In accord-
ance with the religious spirit of that day, she felt a
strong compassion for the deplorable state of the

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 7

Indians, and it was among her earliest and fondest
hopes of this her favorite son, that he would be edu-
cated as a missionary, and become an approved instru-
ment in the hands of Providence to bring these de-
graded and suffering heathen to a knowledge of a pure
religion, and the blessings of civilized life. When she
saw this door opened for the realizing of her hopes,
and her son placed under the charge of the most
eminent laborer of his day in the cause of the Indians,
her joy was complete.

From the first settlement of the country much zeal
and much disinterested philanthropy have been exer-
cised, in attempts to convert the Indians to Christianity,
and induce them to adopt the manners and partici-
pate the comforts of civilized men. Eliot (rightly
named the apostle of the Indians), and the May hews,
are entitled to the praises, which succeeding times
have bestowed on them ; and the efforts of the Society
in Great Britain for propagating the Gospel in foreign
parts, were prompted by motives of the noblest kind,
and were bestowed with an ardor and with sacrifices,
that demand a generous tribute from the pen of histo-
ry, and the grateful remembrance of posterity. For
many years little had been done, however, till the
popular talents and fervent zeal of David Brainerd
caused the journals of his missionary tours to be read
throughout the country, his labors applauded, and his
success regarded as an evidence of the great work,
that might be wrought by the use proper of means.

About this time the Reverend Eleazer Wheelock,
who was then a settled clergyman in Lebanon, Con-
necticut, formed the scheme of an Indian School,

O LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

which should have the double object of preparing
young preachers for the missionary field, and of edu-
cating Indian youth, who should return to their tribes,
and become teachers among their own people. With-
out show or ostentation Dr Wheelock commenced
the school at his own house, and almost at his own
charge. He began with two pupils, one of whom
was Sampson Occum, an Indian of the Mohegan tribe,
afterwards so much celebrated as a preacher, and for
his instructions to the Indians. The school gradually
increased, and so benevolent an undertaking, pursued
with such singleness of purpose, could not fail to
attract public notice and approbation. He was aided
by contributions from individuals, and tlv3 province of
Massachusetts voted to pay, for a certain time, the
expense of educating six Indian children. Mr Joshua
Moor, who owned lands in Lebanon, gave a portion
of them for the benefit of this school, and from this
circumstance, the seminary for the education of In-
dian boys, afterwards attached to Dartmouth College,
was called Moor^s Indian School.

But Dr Wheelock still found, that pupils from the
forest flocked to him faster, than he could provide for
them. He thought it now time to adopt the expedient
of sending to England, and soliciting assistance from
the wealthy and charitable on the other side of the
water. For this object Sampson Occum, and another
clergyman, were sent out as agents, furnished with
testimonials of their character, and certificates of ap-
probation from eminent persons in the colonies. Oc-
cum was looked upon as a wonder in England. He
was the first Indian preacher from North America,

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 9

that ever had been seen m the Old World ; wherever
he went crowds gathered around him, and it has been
the lot of few speakers to address audiences so throng-
ed. A North American Indian in a pulpit, eloquently
preaching in the English tongue, was a phenomenon
too nearly miraculous to pass unseen or unheard. It
was said, moreover, that he exhibited in his person and
character, a practical example of w^hat might be done
with Indians, when fairly brought under the influence
of instruction. All this was highly favorable to the
great ends of the mission, and in a few months a sub-
scription was obtained, and money paid to the amount
of nearly ten thousand pounds. The king gave two
hundred pounds, and several gentlemen one hundred
each. The money was deposited in the hands of trus-
tees in England, and drawn out as occasion required.
With this addition to his resources, Dr Wheelock began
to think of enlarging the plan of his school, and
removing nearer to the frontiers, both to diminish
the expense of living, and to be nearer the Indians.
After examining several situations, he selected Hano-
ver, then almost a wilderness, to which place he
removed in 1770, cut away the trees, and erected the
the institution, which he called Dartmouth College, in
honor of Lord Dartmouth, who had manifested zeal
and liberality in collecting the Indian fund in England.
To this college, about two years after it was found-
ed, Ledyard resorted to prepare himself for the
arduous office of a missionary among the Indians.
The nature of a missionary's life at that time,
and the prospects of the young candidate for such
a station, may be fully realized by a perusal of the
2

10 , LIFE QF JOHN LEDYARD.

letters from the Reverend Samuel Kirkland to Dr
Wheelock, written previously to the removal from
Lebanon. Mr Kirkland was a graduate of Nassau
Hall, in New Jersey, and when qualified for the minis-
try, he undertook a mission to the Seneca Indians, the
most remote and fierce of the confederate nations.
He continued there more than a year and a half, and
gained the confidence of some of the chief persons of
the tribe ; but so general was the aversion to the
whites, and to the arts of civilized life, that after a
thorough experiment, he despaired of any such success
as would be adequate to the sacrifices he must make,
and the sufferings he must endure. Leaving the
Senecas, therefore, he next proceeded to the Oneidas,
with whom he took up a permanent residence. Here
poverty, and famine, and wretchedness stared him in
the face.* Nor were these the worst evils, with

* During the first year of his sojourning with his tribe (1767), he
wrote to Dr Wheelock as follows.

" I am distressed to know what to do ; the present poverty of these
people cries aloud for the charity of God's people ; two years ago their
corn was cut off by the frost, last year destroyed by the vermin, and
worms threaten the destruction of one half of the present crop. Many
of them for a month past have eat but once a day, and yet continue to
v/ork. From week to week I am obliged to go eeling with the Indians
at Oneida Lake for my subsistence. I have feasted and starved with
them, as their luck depends on wind and weather. If it shoidd be
asked, why they do not support me, the answer is ready, They can-
not support themselves. They are now half starved. Some of them
have no more than two quarts of corn. I fear my appearing in such a
servile, beggarly manner will very much disserve the design in -vaew;
but I must desist, must go down to the lake for eels this day, and.
return tomorrow to hill my corn and potatoes."

Again a few weeks afterwards he wrote, " Through the tender mer-
cies of God, I enjoy some degree of health, amidst aU my troubles and
distresses, though my strength begins to fail. I cannot subsist long

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 1 1

which he was obliged to contend. The capricious
temper and furious passions of the savages, especially
when intoxicated, frequently put his life in jeopardy,
and kept him in a state of unceasing alarm. All these
things were endured by Mr Kirkland with a christian
fortitude, which nothing but a deep sense of the sacred
nature of his duties could have enabled him to maintain.
He triumphed at last ; he lived many years with the
Oneidas, and had the satisfaction to see, that his toils
were not fruitless. The Indians revered him as a
father ; they had the wisdom to respect and some-
times to follow his counsels ; a visible change took
place in their character and modes of life ; the rough
features of the savage vi^ere softened, famine and want
chased away, and the comforts of life multiplied.
These advantages the sons of the forest saw and felt.
No man has ever been more successful than Mr
Kirkland in improving the condition of the Indians,
and to the last day of his life, he continued to receive
from them earnest demonstrations of affection and
gratitude.*

without relief. I have ate no flesh in my own house for near eight
weeks. Flour and milk with a few eels have been my living. Such
diet, with my hard labor abroad, doth not satisfy nature. My poor
people are almost starved to death. I am grieved to the heart for
them. There is one family, consisting of four, I must support after my
fashion, till squashes come on, or they must perish. They have had
nothing these ten days, but what I have given them. They have only
each an old blanket not worth sixpence, wherewith to buy anything ;
and begging here at this season would be a very poor business. I
would myself be glad of the opportunity to fall on my knees for such a
bone as I have often seen cast to the dogs."

* In speaking of this subject, the name of John Thornton should not
be forgotten. He was a wealthy English gentleman, who was active
in procuring donations to the Indian fund, and himself a large contribu-

12 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

To this brief sketch it is hardly necessary to add,
that when the revokitionary war came on, a check
was given to the designs of the benevolent in behalf
of the Indians. They engaged in the strife, which
had been kindled by their white neighbors, and the
voice of the missionary was silenced by the war
whoop, and the din of battle. Many of Dr Whee-
lock's Indian pupils, having gone through a regular
course of instruction, had returned to their homes,
and were beginning to scatter the light they had re-
ceived ; but their influence was lost amidst the rav-
ages of war. Much was it to be lamented, that the
agency of a school, to which Dr Wheelock had de-
voted the years of a long and toilsome life, and which
had awakened a lively interest in the friends of
humanity, should be so soon brought to an end, and
nothing be seen in the result but a melancholy waste
of time, talents, and money.

Such was the condition of a missionary among the
Indians, and such the origin and purpose of the Insti-
tution, to which Ledyard resorted for an education,
which should qualify him to enter upon his destined
task. Not many memorials remain of his college life.
The whole time of his residence at Dartmouth was not
more than one year, and during that period he was
absent three months and a half, rambling among the
Indians. A classmate still living recollects, that he

tor ; he gave Sampson Occum a pension of one hundred dollars a
year, sent private aid to Dr Wheelock and Mr Kirkland, wrote them
frequent letters of encouragement, and was never weary, either by
personal exertions or charitable gifts, of promoting the cause of Indian
Missions.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 13

had then some amusing singularities, was cheerful and
gay in conversation, winning in his address, and a
favorite with his fellow students. His journey from
Hartford to Hanover was performed in a sulkey, the
first vehicle of the kind, that had ever been seen on
Dartmouth plain, and it attracted curiosity not more
from this circumstance, than from the odd appearance
of the equipage. Both the horse and the sulkey gave
evident tokens of having known better days ; and
the dress of their owner was peculiar, bidding equal
defiance to symmetry of proportions and the fashion
of the times. In addition to the traveller's own
weight, this ancient vehicle was burdened with a
quantity of calico for curtains, and other articles to
assist in theatrical exhibitions, of which he was very
fond. From the character of this outfit we may con-
clude, that he did not intend time should pass on heavy
wings at Dartmouth. Considering the newness of the
country, the want of bridges, and the bad state of the
roads, this jaunt in a crazy sulkey was thought to in-
dicate no feeble spirit of enterprise. The journey
might have been performed with much more ease and
expedition on horseback, but in that case his theatrical
apparatus must have been left behind.

As a scholar at college he was respectable, but not
over-diligent ; he acquired knowledge with facility,
and could make quick progress, when he chose, but
he was impatient under discipline, and thought nothing
more irksome, than to go by compulsion to a certain
place at certain times, and tread from day to day the
same dull circle of the chapel, the recitation room, the
commons hall, and the study. It is not affirmed, that

14 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

he ever ventured to set up any direct hostility to the
powers that ruled, but he sometimes demeaned him-
self in a manner, that must take from him the praise
of a shining example of willing subordination. In
those primitive times the tones of a bell had not been
heard in the forests of Dartmouth, and the students
were called together by the sound of a conch-shell,
which was blown in turn by the freshmen, Ledyard
was indignant at being summoned to this duty, and
it was his custom to perform it w'ith a reluctance
and in a manner corresponding to his sense of the
degradation.

The scenic materials, brought with so much pains
from Hartford, were not suffered to lie useless. The
calico was manufactured into curtains, a stage was
fitted up, and plays w^ere acted, in which our hero
personated the chief characters. Cato was among
the tragedies brought out upon his boards, and in this
he acted the part of old Syphax, w^earing a long grey
beard, and a dress suited to his notion of the costume
of a Numidian prince. His tragedies were doubtless
comedies to the audience, but they all answered his
purpose of amusement, and of introducing a little
variety into the sober tenor of a student's life. At
this period he was much addicted to reading plays, and
his passion for the drama probably stole away many
hours, that might have been more profitably employed
in preparing to exhibit himself before his tutors.

He had not been quite four months in college, when
he suddenly disappeared without previous notice to
his comrades, and apparently without permission from
the president. The full extent of his travels during

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 15

his absence cannot now be known, but he is under-
stood to have wandered to the borders of Canada,
and among the Six Nations. It is certain, that he
acquired in this excursion a knowledge of Indian
manners and Indian language, which was afterwards
of essential service to him in his intercourse with
savages in various parts of the world. His main
object probably was to take a cursoi;y survey of the
missionary ground, which he was contemplating as the
theatre of his future career, and, judging from what
followed, we may suppose that this foretaste put an
end to all his anticipations. Nothing more is heard of
his missionary projects, although it is not clear at what
time he absolutely abandoned them. When three
months and a half had expired, he returned to college
and resumed his studies.

If his dramatic performances were not revived, as it
would seem they were not, his erratic spirit did not
sink into a lethargy for want of expedients to keep it
alive. In midwinter, when the ground was covered
with deep snow, Ledyard collected a party whom
he persuaded to accompany him to the summit of a
neighbouring mountain, and there pass the night. Dr
Wheelock consented to the project, as his heart was
bent on training up the young men to be missionaries
among the Indians, and he was willing they should
become inured to hardships, to which a life among
savages would frequently expose them. The projec-
tor of the expedition took the lead of his volunteers,
and conducted them by a pathless route through the
thickets of a swamp and forests, till they reached the
top of the mountain, just in time to kindle a fire, and

16 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

arrange their encampment on the snow before it was
dark. The night, as may be supposed, was dreary
and sleepless to most of the party, and few were they
who did not greet the dawn with gladness. Their
leader was alert, prompt at his duty, and pleased with
his success. The next day, they returned home, all
perfectly satisfied, unless it were Ledyard, with this
single experiment of their hardihood, without being
disposed to make another similar trial. He had a
propensity for climbing mountains, as will be seen
hereafter, when we meet him at the Sandwich
Islands.

After abandoning his missionary schemes he began
to grow weary of college, and the more so, probably,
as his unsettled habits now and then drew from the
president a salutary admonition on the importance of
a right use of time, and a regard for the regulations of
the establishment. Such hints he conceived to be an
indignity, and fancied himself ill treated. That there
was value in rules of order and discipline he did not
pretend to deny, but seemed at a loss to imagine
why they should apply to him. That the whole sub-
ject might be put at rest, without involving any puz-
zling questions of casuistry, he resolved to escape.

On the margin of the Connecticut river, which runs
near the college, stood many majestic forest trees,
nourished by a rich soil. One of these Ledyard con-
trived to cut down. He then set himself at work to
fashion its trunk into a canoe, and in this labor he was
assisted by some of his fellow students. As the
canoe was fifty feet long and three wide, and was to be
dug out and constructed by these unskilful workmen,

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 17

the task was not a trifling one, nor such as could be
speedily executed. Operations were carried on with
spirit, however, till Ledyard wounded himself with
an axe, and was disabled for several days. When
recovered he applied himself anew to his work ; the
canoe was finished, launched into the stream, and, by
the further aid of his companions, equipped and pre-
pared for a voyage. His wishes were now at their
consummation, and, bidding adieu to these haunts of
the muses, where he had gained a dubious fame, he
set off alone with a light heart to explore a river,
with the navigation of which he had not the slightest
acquaintance. The distance to Hartford was not less
than one hundred and forty miles, much of the way
was through a wilderness, and in several places there
were dangerous falls and rapids.

With a bearskin for a covering, and his canoe well
stocked with provisions, he yielded himself to the
current, and floated leisurely down the stream, seldom
using his paddle, and stopping only in the night for
sleep. He told Mr Jefferson in Paris, fourteen years
afterwards, that he took only two books with him, a
Greek Testament, and Ovid, one of which he was
deeply engaged in reading when his canoe approached
Bellows's Falls, where he was suddenly roused by the
noise of the waters rushing among the rocks through
the narrow passage. The danger was imminent, as
no boat could go down that fall without being in-
stantly dashed in pieces. With difficulty he gained the
shore in time to escape such a catastrophe, and through
the kind assistance of the people in the neighbourhood,
who were astonished at the novelty of such a voyage
3

18 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

down the Connecticut, his canoe was drawn by oxen
around the fall, and committed again to the water be-
low. From that time, till he arrived at his place of
destination, we hear of no accident, although he was
carried through several dangerous passes in the river.
On a bright spring morning, just as the sun was rising,
some of Mr Seymour's family were standing near his
house on the high bank of the small river, that runs
through the city of Hartford, and empties itself into the
Connecticut river, when they espied at some distance
an object of unusual appearance moving slowly up the
stream. Others were attracted by the singularity of
the sight, and all were conjecturing what it could be,
till its questionable shape assumed the true and ob-
vious form of a canoe ; but by what impulse it was
moved forward none could determine. Something
was seen in the stern, but apparently without life or
motion. At length the canoe touched the shore
directly in front of the house ; a person sprang from
the stern to a rock in the edge of the water, threw off
a bearskin in which he had been enveloped, and be-
hold John Ledyard, in the presence of his uncle and
connexions, who were filled with wonder at this sud-
den apparition, for they had received no intelligence
of his intention to leave Dartmouth, but supposed him
still there diligently pursuing his studies, and fitting
himself to be a missionary among the Indians.

However unimportant this whimsical adventure may
have been in its results, or even its objects, it was one
of no ordinary peril, and illustrated in a forcible man-
ner the character of the navigator. The voyage was
performed in the last part of April or first of May,

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 19

and of course the river was raised by the recent
melting of the snow on the mountains. This
circumstance probably rendered the rapids less dan-
gerous, but it may be questioned whether there are
many persons at the present day, who would willingly
run the same hazard, even if guided by a pilot skilled
in the navigation of the river.

We cannot look back to Ledyard, thus launching
himself alone in so frail a bark upon the waters of a
river wholly unknown to him, without being reminded
of the only similar occurrence, which has been record-
ed, the voyage down the river Niger by Mungo Park,
a name standing at the very head of those most re-
nowned for romantic and lofty enterprise. The
melancholy fate, it is true, by which he was soon
arrested in his noble career, adds greatly to the inter-
est of his situation when pushing from the shore his
little boat Joliba, and causes us to read his last affect-
ing letter to his wife with emotions of sympathy more
intense if possible, than would be felt if the tragical
issue were not already known. In many points of
character there was a strong resemblance between
these two distinguished travellers, and they both per-
ished martyrs in the same cause, attempting to explore
the hidden regions of Africa.

20 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

CHAPTER II.

His singular letters to President Wheelock. — Commences the study of theology,
— His embarrassments on this occasion. — Visits several clergymen on Long
Island, and piu-sues his studies there for a short time. — Proposes teaching
a school. — Returns to Connecticut, and meets with disappointment in his
hopes of being settled as a clergyman. — Abandons his purpose of studying
divinity. — Sails from New London on a voyage to Gibraltar. — Enlists there
as a soldier into the regular sei-vice. — Released by the solicitation of the cap-
tain of the vessel in which he sailed. — Rettims home by way of the Barbary
Coast and the West Indies. — Resolves to visit England, and seek for his
wealthy family connexions in that country. — Sails fiom New York to 'Ply-
mouth.— Travels thence to London in extreme poverty. — Realizes none of his
expectations. — Enlists in the naval service. — Gains an acquaintance with
Captain Cook, and embarks with him on his last voyage roimd the world, in
the capacity of corporal of marines.

As Ledyard left Hanover when Dv Wheelock was
absent, this was probably seized upon by him as a fit
opportunity for taking his departure. A few days
after his arrival in Hartford, his uncle thought proper
to show him some of Dr Wheelock's letters, in which
were very just complaints of his conduct, his disregard
of discipline, and particularly his thoughtless waste of
the small means he possessed, which his friends flat-
tered themselves might, with good economy, be made
to pay the expenses of his education. These letters of
the president were apparently written not so much by
way of accusation, as to vindicate himself from any
charge of neglect that might be made against him,
on account of the ill success of his eflbrts to manage a
young man, whom he had no other motive for taking
under his particular care, than good will for the
grandson of his deceased friend, and regard for

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 21

his family. Ledyard was much incensed at these
letters, and replied to them mider the impulse of
feelings not the most kindly or respectful. From his
nature he was extremely impatient of reproach, and
ever deemed it an unpardonable offence in any one to
question his motives, or insinuate that he could act
deliberately and intentionally wrong. His foibles he
could bear to have touched with a gentle hand, but no
one ventured a suspicion of his integrity, or of the kind-
ness of his heart, with impunity. He often lamented
the failure of purposes caused by his fondness for
change and love of adventure ; but at no time did he
allow himself to think, that he was not pursuing great
and worthy objects, and such as would redound to his
honor, and the good of mankind. With this disposi-
tion, and this confidence in himself, it was natural
that he should sometimes regard the opinions, which
others entertained of his conduct, with stronger feel-
ings of disapprobation, than the merits of the case
required. In reading the following extracts from a
a letter to Dr Wheelock, these particulars should be
kept in mind ; and it should moreover be remembered,
that, whether right or wrong, he really fancied himself
not well treated at Dartmouth.

" When I sit down to write," says he, " I know not
where to begin, or where to end, or what to say,
especially since I have the contents of two of your
letters concerning my affairs. What do I see ? Who
is this that assumes the port of compassion, kindness,
benevolence, charity, and writes as he writes ? You
begin, sir, with a surprise, that my legacy was so
much exhausted. Justly might you, sir, but not more

ZZ LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

SO than my unfortunate self; and if truth has not
turned liar, if any protestations, any declarations of
honesty, uprightness, or anything else can avail, I
now, under the most sacred obligations, bond jide
declare I was not aware of it ; and when I saw the
letters and account, I was so much ashamed of my
inadvertency, and so justly culpable before you, that
I could not compose myself to come before you, and
answer for my misconduct. But from that moment,
with much anxiety and care, I studied to remedy the
matter. This I declare was- the honest purpose of
my heart ; and to make you reparation still is ; and,
under Heaven, you shall say you are satisfied. Then,
sir, you say, a little after, that you could have no confi-
dence in me, after the character given of me by Mr
Seymour. I am sorry, sir, you could not.

" I take what you have said, in regard to my pride,
very ill-natured, very unkind in you. So far as I
know myself, I came to your college under influences
of the good kind, whether you, sir, believe it or not.
The acquaintance I have gained there is dearer than
I can possibly express. Farewell, dear Dartmouth.
Doctor, my heart is as pure as the new fallen snow.
Farewell, and may the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, bless you and yours. I am, honored and rev-
erend sir, though sorely beset, your obliged and duti-
ful young servant."

Here end all the particulars, which have come to
my knowledge, respecting Ledyard's college life.
He next appears before us in the character of a stu-
dent in divinity. Within a month after mooring his
canoe at the river's bank in Hartford, he is found at

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 23

Preston, in Connecticut, advising with the reverend
Mr Hart, a clergyman of that town, on the subject of
his theological studies and prospects, and also with the
reverend Dr Bellamy, at that time a preacher of wide
fame in Connecticut. Both of these clergymen gave
him such encouragement, that he resolved to apply
himself immediately to a preparation for discharging
the sacred functions of a divine, and turn the ruffled
tenor of his life into the quiet and grateful occupation
of a parish minister. He speaks of his anticipations
on this occasion with a heartiness and enthusiasm,
which show, at least, that he imagined himself sin-
cere, and that in the future he fancied he had only
to look for the unalloyed blessings of tranquillity,
competence, and peace. Such was his haste to
realize these precious hopes, that he had not pa-
tience to wait the usual term required of young
candidates, who had not been graduated at a col-
lege. To facilitate the attainment of this end, his
advisers recommended that he should go to Long
Island, and there pass through his initiatory studies,
where, it was said, smaller attainments were required
for admission to the desk ; and when once admitted,
he might return and procure a settlement wherever
there should be an opening. With this scheme he
was well satisfied, and being furnished by the above
gentlemen with suitable letters of recommendation,
he mounted his horse and set off for Long Island, with
the same buoyancy of spirits, as when, two months
before, he entered his canoe at Dartmouth, and with a
purpose much more definite, and higher expectations.

24 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

In describing this tour I shall let him speak in his
own language, as contained in a letter written to a
friend at the time.

" Equipped with my credentials, I embarked for
Long Island. The next day I fortunately arrived at
Southold, surprised my mother with a visit, and after
remaining with her twenty-four hours, I rode to the
eastward. With another recommendatory letter from
the reverend Mr Storrs, I crossed Shelter Island ferry,
and thence to East Hampton, where I met with a
kind reception from the reverend Mr Buell, modera-
tor of the Synod, an influential man, and a glorious
preacher. Here I was introduced to a very large
library, and, in company with another young candi-
date, I spent about a month with intense application
to study. But this was only an interregnum. Mr
Buell let me know, that the presbytery here proceed
in these matters with a perfect extreme of delibera-
tion ; and since my circumstances were as they were,
he advised me to comply with the dispensations of
Providence, and seek a school, and study under some
divine. I knew his advice to be as that from a father
to a son, and, without a moment's hesitation, wiping
the sweat of care from my brow, I bestrided my
Rosinante with a mountain of grief upon my shoul-
ders, but a good letter in my pocket. I jogged on
groaning, but never desponding, passed to Bridgetown,
thence to Southampton, and through many little villa-
ges to Sataucket Quorum, then to Smithtown, Fire-
place, Oyster Bay, and so on, visiting and making
acquaintance with the clergy wherever I went.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 25

" At length, after a ride of almost one hundred
miles, by crossing the island I arrived at Huntington,
a large town about forty miles from New York, where
I visited the minister of the place, old Mr Prime.
After about twelve days' feasting upon his great libra-
ry, and a quickly made friendship with the ingenious
Dr Prime formerly of New York, and a fruitless
attempt to get a school, I was returning, but stopped
to become acquainted with the excellent Irishman, the
reverend Mr Caldwell of Elizabeth Town, and the
popular Dr Rogers of New York ; and, after some
cordials of consolation and encouragement, they bade
me go on, and God speed me. They told me that the
sufferings I met with, and the contemptuous ideas the
people where I was born and educated had of me,
were nothing strange, but reflected honor on me, —
that a prophet is hardly accepted in his own country,
and the like.

" I returned after a very fatiguing journey to Mr
BuelPs, and staid a short time wdth that hermit, where
and with whom I longed to be buried in ease ; but I
scorned to be a coward, and chose to die in front of
battle if anywhere. We advised together anew, and
it w^as resolved, that since I was so disappointed I
should proceed with renewed vigor. Accordingly,
with warm letters I came again to the continent,
where I arrived in the evening, but thought it most
prudent not to stop there, no, not where I was born.
I dropped a tear upon the occasion, and rode on toward
Preston till eleven at night, when, feeling quite ex-
hausted, for I had been severely sea-sick, I dismount-
ed, left my horse to graze, looked up to heaven, and
4

26 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

under its canopy fell asleep. The next morning I
rode to my cousin Isaac's house, and being refreshed, I.
advanced once more to Mr Hart's, where I was again
handsomely and kindly received."

Thus disappointed in his expectations on Long
Island, his ardor were somew^hat damped, but his re-
solution remained unshaken. He made up his mind
to apply again to his old friends, and seek their sym-
pathy and counsel. As they had expressed themselves
warmly in his favor, and recommended him in flatter-
ing terms to the Long Island clergy, he was sanguine
in the faith, that they would not, when things came to
an extremity, hesitate to do, on their own part, what
they had encouraged so earnestly in their brethren.
With some confidence, therefore, he repeated his soli-
citations to Mr Hart. The result shall likewise be
given in his own words.

" We have advised together, and read the aforesaid
letters. The amount of all is this, ' Don't be dis-
couraged, Mr Ledyard ; you will think the better of
fair weather after this storm. My private sentiments,
and my public conduct in your case, are two things.
I don't doubt one single instant of your probity and
well-meaning. What the world does, I cannot say ;
but as I officiate in a public character, I must deal with
you as so officiating, and for that reason, as well as
securing your future tranquillity in the ministry, by
making a good beginning, I by all means advise, first,
that you write speedily to the reverend Mr Whitman,
and get him to write to us respecting you what he
can, as you have lived long under him ; secondly, that
you write also to Dartmouth, to procure a regular dis-

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 27

mission from the president. When we have these, we
shall proceed with confidence in the face of all men,
and not be ashamed to introduce you anywhere.'
Now, Sir, though but very brief, I have given you an
exact account of my situation, and the fatigues of my
pursuits. You see what bars my sitting directly down.
" As Dartmouth is at such a distance, the clergy
here do not insist on a return from that place so soon
as from Hartford, but the sooner I have an answer
from Mr Whitman, the sooner w^ill my mind be at rest.
There are four ministers that stand ready to advance
me the moment this is done, among whom the famous
Dr Bellamy is one. The clergy are very exact in
these things, and I have sometimes thought that they
meant to keep me humming around them till I was
tired, and so get clear of an absolute refusal, or, as
Dr Young expresses it, to

Fright me, with terrors of a world unknown,
From joys of this, to keep them all their own.

They have found me affliction-proof, if this was their
motive ; but I plainly see they mean it for my honor
— and their own too. The request, in short, which I
make of you is, that you will please to wait on Mr
Whitman with my letter, hurry him for an answer,
and send it to me by the earliest opportunity."

That such an answer never came, may be inferred
from the fact, that he was never licensed as a preach-
er; and the judgment of his friends, the clergymen,
is not to be so much censured in this, perhaps, as in
the unjustifiable encouragement they held out to him.
They could not suppose him qualified for the clerical
office, with the limited knowledge and experience he

28 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

possessed, and it was wrong to delude him with the
notion, that they would under any circumstances pub-
licly approve him as such, merely upon receiving two
letters, which at most could testify only to his general
character. His attainments were afterwards to be
made. He was doubtless importunate, and Mr
Hart and Dr Bellamy were goodnatured, but their
kindness would have been better applied, especially
on a mind like that of Ledyard's, if they had been
more frank and decided in the outset. His sensibility
was keenly touched by the disappointment, which, as
much as anything perhaps, drove him, somewhat
disgusted, from prosecuting his theological studies.
That he engaged in them with considerable ardor, no
one can doubt after reading his remarks above ; that
he would have continued long of the same mind is not
very likely ; but it was a mistaken exercise of bene-
volence to foster hopes, which there was no chance of
seeing ripened into realities, and thus enticing him into
a profession, for which he was hardly in any one re-
spect fitted. As a further proof, that he was in earnest
at the beginning, it may be mentioned, that he not only
applied himself assiduously to study, but was accus-
tomed to declaim in the woods and retired places,
that he might discipline his voice, and prepare himself
for public speaking.

But his studies in theology were of short duration.
He was mortified at the ill success of his application to
the clergy for being approved as a candidate, and other
circumstances concurred to annoy and wound him. The
effect of these on his feelings will appear in the follow-
ing postscript to a letter, written three months after the

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 29

one last quoted. " I send you this from Groton, even
the little Groton, where it seems I must at last hide
mj head, and relinquish all the glorious purposes I
had in view. 'Tis hard. Do you not wonder that I
still live, when there is such inquiry about the strange
man in Hartford, when I am the mark of impertinent
curiosity, when everything around me opposes my
designs ? Do you not wonder, that I have my senses
in so great a degree as to let you know, that I am as
unmoved as my observers and opposers ? " These
hints are enough to show that obstacles of a serious
kind, whether imaginary or real, met him in various
quarters, and that a weight of corroding cares hung
upon his soul.

But we are not left long to sympathize with him in
his griefs. All thoughts of divinity being now aban-
doned, he is introduced to us a few weeks afterwards
in a totally new character, that of a sailor on board a
vessel bound to Gibraltar. Captain Deshon, who re-
sided in New London, and sailed from that port, had
been his father's friend, and the hero of our narrative
now shipped with him for a voyage to the Mediterra-
nean. He entered as a common sailor, but was treat-
ed by the captain rather as a friend and associate, than
as one of the ordinary crew, and his good humour,
suavity of manners, and comparative intelligence,
made his company highly acceptable to all on board.
The voyage was first to Gibraltar, next to a port on
the Barbary coast for taking in a cargo of mules, and
thence homeward by way of the West Indies.

One incident only has been transmitted, as worthy
of notice during this voyage. While the ship was

30 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

lying at Gibraltar, Ledyard was all at once missing,
and it was some time before anything could be heard
of him. There came a rumor at length, that he
was among the soldiery in the barracks. A person
was sent to make inquiry, who descried him in the
ranks, dressed in the British uniform, armed and
equipped from head to foot, and carrying himself with
a martial air and attitude, which proved that to what-
ever vocation he might be called, he was not to be out-
done by his comrades. Captain Deshon went to his
quarters, and remonstrated with him for this strange
freak, and urged him to return. He said he enlisted
because he was partial to the service, and thought the
profession of a soldier well suited to a man of honor
and enterprise ; but that he would not be obstinate,
and was willing to go back, if the captain insisted on
it, and would procure his release. When the circum-
stances were made known to the British commanding
officer, he consented to release his new recruit, who
returned on board the ship and prosecuted his voyage.

While at Gibraltar he wrote home a very full and
amusing account of what he saw in that place, but
the letter has been lost.

Within a year from the time of sailing from New
London, the vessel anchored again in the same har-
bor, and the only profit yielded by the voyage to our
young adventurer was a little experience of the hard-
ships of a sailor's life, and knowledge of the myste-
ries of his profession. However valuable might be
this species of gain as stock on hand for future use,
it had no power to satisfy immediate want ; poverty
stared him in the face ; and at the age of twenty-two

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 31

he found himself a solitary wanderer, dependent on
the bounty of his friends, without employment or
prospects, having tried various pursuits and failed of
success in all. Neither his pride, nor his sense of
duty, would suffer him to remain in this condition one
moment longer, than till he could devise a method of
escape from it ; yet the peculiar frame of his mind
and temper was such, that nothing would have been
more idle, either in himself or any other person, than
to think of chaining him down to any of the dull
courses of life, to which the great mass of mankind
are contented to resort, as the means of acquiring
a fortune, gaining a competence, or driving want
from the door. That he must provide for himself
by his own efforts, was a proposition too forcibly
impressed upon him to be denied ; but there seemed
not a single propensity of his nature, which inclined
him to direct these efforts in the same manner
as other people, or to attain common ends by com-
mon means. Poverty and privation were trifles of no
weight with him, compared with the irksome necessity
of walking in the same path that all the world walked
in, and doing things as all the world had done them
before. He thought this a very tame pursuit, unwor-
thy of a rational man, whose soul should be fired with
a nobler ambition.

Entertaining such views of the objects of human
life, it is not surprising that he should feel himself
hanging loosely upon society, and should discover that
while he continued without purpose and without pro-
perty, he would exhibit slender claims to the respect
of the community, or the confidence of his friends.

32 LIFE OF JOHN LED YARD.

Their sympathy he might have, but this was a boon
which he disdained to accept, when elicited by misfor-
tunes springing from his own improvidence, or by
evils which he had power to avoid. That he had no
intention of fixing himself down in any steady occu-
pation, is proved by a remark in a letter written from
Gibraltar. " I allot to myself," said he, " a seven
years' ramble more, although the past has long since
wasted the means I possessed." Often had he heard his
grandfather descant on his ancestors, and his wealthy
connexions in England ; and the thought had entered
our rambler's head, that one day it might be no unwise
thing for him to visit these relatives, and claim alli-
ance with them as a hopeful branch of so worthy a
stock. In this stage of his affairs he was convinced,
that the proper time had come, and he suffered now
and then a bright vision to play before his fancy, of
the happy change that would ensue, by the aid and in-
fluence of his newly found friends in England, who
would receive with joy so promising a member of
their family from America. Elated with dreams like
these, he took a hasty leave of the place of his nativi-
ty, and the associates of his youth, and made the best
of his way to New York, there to seek out a passage
to the land of promise.

The first vessel about to sail for England was bound
to Plymouth, and in this he obtained a birth, probably
on condition of working as a sailor. His trip to the
Mediterranean was now to yield its fruits. On his
arrival in Plymouth and leaving the vessel, he was re-
duced to the extreme of want, without money in his
pocket, or a single acquaintance to whom he could

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 33

apply for relief. Thus situated it behoved him to
make haste to London, where he looked for an imme-
diate welcome and a home among the relations, whose
wealth and virtues he had heard so much extolled by
his grandfather. As the good fortune of the moment
would have it, he fell in with an Irishman, a genuine
specimen of the honesty, frankness, and good nature,
which characterize many of the sons of Erin ;
whose plight so exactly resembled his own, that they
formed a mutual attachment almost as soon as they
came in contact with each other. There is a sym-
pathetic power in misfortune, which is heedless of
the forms of society, and acts not by any cold rule of
calculation. Both the travellers were pedestrians
bound to London, both were equally destitute, having
nothing wherewith to procure a subsistence. They
agreed to take turns in begging on the road. In this
manner they travelled harmoniously together, till they
reached London, without having any reason to com-
plain that Providence had neglected them on the way,
or that there was a lack of generous and disinterested
feeling in the human kind.

Ledyard's thoughts were now gay, for although in
beggary, he fancied that the next step would place him
at the summit of his wishes, and open to him wide the
door of prosperity. Had he possessed the very lamp of
Aladdin, and been endued with the Dervise's power, he
could not have been more confident or happy. To find
out his relations was now his only anxiety. By acci-
dent he saw the family name on a carriage, and he
inquired of the coachman where the owner lived, and
what was his occupation. The answer was, that
5

34 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD,

he was a rich merchant, and the place of his resi-
dence was pointed out. Our eager traveller hastened
to the house, inquired for the occupant, and ascer-
tained that he was not at home. A son was there,
however, who listened to his story, but gave him soon
to understand, that he put no faith in his representa-
tions, as he had never heard of any such relations as
he told of in America. He observed, moreover, that
he resembled one of the family, who had been absent
some years in the East Indies, and whom they were
extremely anxious to see, assuring him, that if he
were really the person, he would be received with
open arms. This was a very unlucky interview, for
nothing ever raised Ledyard's anger to so high a pitch,
as a suspicion expressed or implied of his integrity and
honest intentions. He seemed from that moment
determined to prosecute his inquiry after his family
connexions no further, but to shun all that bore the
name. The son pressed him to remain till his father
should return, but he abruptly left the house, and
never went back.

Some time afterwards, when he had gained ac-
quaintances of respectable name in London, to whom
he related his story, they went with it to the same
gentleman, telling him, that the young man seemed
honest, and they doubted not the truth of what he had
stated. The gentleman refused at first to credit
him, unless he would bring some written evidence.
Upon further inquiry, however, he was better satisfied,
and sent for Ledyard to come to his house. This in-
vitation was declined in no very gracious manner ; and
when money was sent to him afterwards by the same

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 35

person, who had heard that he was m distress, he
rejected it with great iodigoation, and commanded the
bearer to carry it back to his master, and tell him that
he belonged not to the race of the Ledyards. Such
was the end of his dreams about his rich relations, and
it must be acknowledged, that his own haughty spirit
seems to have been the chief enemy to his success.
He would probably have called it magnanimous self-
respect ; and, name it as we will, since it operated
wholly against himself, he must certainly be freed from
any charge of mean motives, or selfish ends.

It was just at this time, that Captain Cook was
making preparation for his third and last voyage round
the world. So successful had he been in his former
expeditions, and so loud was the sound of his fame,
that the whole country was awake to his new under-
taking, and the general sensation was such, as to in-
spire adventurous minds with a wish to participate in
its glory. Nothing could more exactly accord with
the native genius and cherished feelings of Ledyard.
As a first step towards becoming connected with this
expedition, he enlisted in the marine service, and then
by his address he gained an introduction to Captain
Cook. It may be presumed, that on an occasion of so
much moment to him, he would set himself forward
to the best advantage ; and he had great power in re-
commending himself to the favor of others, whenever
he chose to put it in action. His manly form, mild but
animated and expressive eye, perfect self-possession, a
boldness not obtrusive, but showing a consciousness of
his proper dignity, an independent spirit, and a glow
of enthusiasm giving life to his conversation and his

36 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

whole deportment, — these were traits which could not
escape so discriminating an eye as that of Cook ; they
formed a rare combination peculiarly suited to the
hardships and perils of his daring enterprise. They
gained the confidence of the great navigator, who im-
mediately took him into his service, and promoted him
to be a corporal of marines.

In this capacity he sailed from England, but tradi-
tion reports, on what authority I know not, that he
was in due time raised to the post of sergeant.
That he should have been willing to undertake so
long a voyage, in so humble a station, can be ac-
counted for only from his burning desire to be con-
nected with the expedition. His skill in nautical
matters was not yet such as to qualify him for a higher
place, even if he had been able to exhibit stronger
pretensions through the agency and influence of
friends. But he was in the midst of strangers, without
any other claims to notice, than such as he presented
in his own person. These were his only passport to
the favor of Cook, and in relying on them no one
was ever deceived.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 37

CHAPTER III.

Ledyard's journal of his voyage with Captain Cook. — Testimony in his favor hy
by Captain Burney. — Sails for the Cape of Good Hope. — Thence to Kergue-
len's Islands and the south of New Holland. — Character of the people on Van
Diemen's Land. — Present state of the colony there. — Arrives in New Zea-
land.— Account of the people, their manners and peculiarities. — Remarkable
contrasts exhibited in their character. — Love adventure between an English
sailor and a New Zealand girl. — Omai, the Otaheitan. — ^Vessels depart from
New Zealand, and fall in with newly discovered islands. — Affecting story of
three Otaheitans found on one of them. — Arrival at the Friendly Islands. —
People of Tongataboo. — Their condition, mode of living, and amusements. —
Ledyard passes a night with the King. — Wrestling and other athletic exercises
described. — Fireworks exhibited by Cook. — Propensity of the natives to
thieving. — An instance in a chief called Feenou, and the extraordinary mea-
sures used to recover the stolen property. — Departure from Tongataboo.

The particulars of this voyage have been so often
repeated from the official narrative, and are so well
known, that any formal attempt to give a connected
series of events would be superfluous and without
interest. I shall, therefore, chiefly confine myself to
such incidents as came under our traveller's observa-
tion, and to such remarks and reflections of his own,
as indicate his opinions and the character of his mind.
He kept a private journal of the whole voyage, but on
the return of the expedition, before any person had
landed, all papers of this description were taken away,
from both officers and men, by order of the comman-
der, and Ledyard's journal among the rest. This
precaution was necessary to prevent an imperfect ac-
count of the voyage going abroad, before one could be
issued under the sanction of the admiralty.

38 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

Ledyard never recovered his papers, but when he
returned to Hartford, more than two years after the
termination of the voyage, his friends induced him to
write the short account, which appeared with his
name. To satisfy public curiosity till a complete work
could be prepared, a very brief sketch of the voyage
in a single volume had already been published by
authority in England. This volume Ledyard had pro-
cured, and he relied on it for dates, distances, the
courses of the vessels, and for other particulars serving
to revive his recollection of what he had experienced
and witnessed. Extracts are made without alteration
in two or three instances, and several of the last
pages are literally copied. With no other written
materials Ledyard produced his manuscript journal,
which ho sold to Mr Nathaniel Patten, publisher in
Hartford, for twenty guineas. It was printed in a
duodecimo volume containing a chart, and a dedica-
tion to Governor Trumbull, expressive of the author's
gratitude for the generosity and kindness, which he
had received from that veteran patriot.

A narrative thus drawn up must of course be in
many respects imperfect, but the narrator makes no
high pretensions; he never taxes our faith beyond
the obvious bounds of probability, nor calls our atten-
tion to hearsay reports and speculations of others. He
describes what he saw and heard, and utters his own
sentiments. In a few instances he varies from the
accounts afterwards published in England ; but these
commonly relate either to occurrences as to which he
had a better opportunity for personal knowledge, or
concerning which for various reasons it was the policy

LIFE OF JOHN LEDTARD- 39

of the leaders of the expedition to preserve silence.
The train of events at the Sandwich Islands, which led
to the death of Captain Cook, is narrated by Ledyard
in a manner more consistent and natural, than appears
in any other account of it. The precipitancy of
the officers, and of Cook particularly, or at least their
want of caution, which was the primary cause of the
tragical issue, was kept out of sight by the authorized
narrators, and a mystery long hung over that catas-
trophe, owing to the absence of any obvious coherency
between causes and effects. On this point Ledyard's
narrative is full and satisfactory, as will be seen in its
proper place.

As a proof of our traveller's activity of mind, and his
ardor of inquiry, during this voyage, I shall here quote
a passage from a work recently published by Captain
James Burney, entitled, A Chronological History
of Northeastern Voyages of Discovery. The author
of this book was a lieutenant mider Cook in his two
last voyages, son of Dr Burney, and consequently
brother of Madame D'Arblay, the celebrated novelist.
He is repeated);' mentioned in Ledyard's journal, and
was a very enterprising officer. The estimation in
which our hero was held by him will appear by the fol-
lowing extract, as well as by other parts of the work.

" With what education I know not," says Captain
Burney, " but with an ardent disposition, Ledyard had
a passion for lofty sentiment and description. When
corporal of marines on board of the Resolution, after
the death of Captain Cook, he proffered his services
to Captain Clerke to undertake the office of historio-
grapher to our expedition, and presented a specimen,

40 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

which described the manners of the Society Islanders,
and the kind of life led by our people whilst among
them. He was not aware how many candidates he
would have to contend with, if the office to which he
aspired had been vacant ; perhaps not with fewer than
with every one in the two ships who kept journals.
Literary ambition and disposition to authorship led us
in each ship to set up a weekly paper. When the
paper in either ship was ready for delivery, a signal
was made, and when answered by a similar signal from
the other ship, Captain Cook, if the weather was fine,
would good-naturedly let a boat be hoisted out to
make the exchange, and he was always glad to read
our paper, but never favored our editors with the con-
tribution of a paragraph. I believe none of these
papers have been saved, nor do I remember by what
titles we distinguished them. Ledyard's performance
was not criticised in our paper, as that would have
entitled him to a freedom of controversy not consistent
with military subordination. His ideas were thought
too sentimental, and his language too florid. No one,
however, doubted that his feelings were in accord with
his expressions ; and the same is to be said of the little,
which remains of what he has since written, more
worthy of being preserved, and which its worthiness
will preserve, and particularly of his celebrated com-
mendation of women in his Siberian Tour."

Ledyard's contributions to the paper here mention-
ed, and his account of the Society Islanders, were
probably taken from him with his manuscript journal,
as I have found no remnants of them among his papers.
His printed Journal contains a graphic and animated

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 41

description of the Society Islands, but it was evidently
written from recollection, like the rest of the volume.
This testimony of Captain Burney in favor of his
habits of observation, and literary industry, may justly
inspire confidence in his writings.

The last expedition under Captain Cook, and the
one in which our traveller was engaged, left England
on the twelfth of July, 1776. It consisted of two
ships, the Resolution and Discovery, the former com-
manded by Captain Cook, and the latter by Captain
Clerke. After touching at Teneriffe, they proceeded
to the Cape of Good Hope, and came to anchor in
Table Bay, where they were to refit, lay in a new
stock of provisions, and prepare for encountering
the inconveniences and dangers of a long voyage in
the great Southern Ocean, with the certainty that
many months must elapse, before they could hope to
arrive again in a port of civilized people.

Several days were passed here in getting all things
in readiness ; the men of science employed themselves
in short excursions into the country ; provisions were
collected by the proper officers, and the sailors were
busy at their daily tasks. Last of all were taken
on board various live animals, designed to be left at
the islands where they did not exist, making, in con-
nexion with those brought from England, a motley
collection of horses, cattle, sheep, goats, hogs,
dogs, cats, hares, rabbits, monkeys, ducks, geese,
turkeys, and peacocks ; thus, says our voyager, " did
we resemble the Ark, and appear as though we were
going as well to stock as to discover a new world."
iEsop might have conversed for weeks with such a
6

42 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

congregated multitude. The monkeys and peacocks
seem to have been out of place m this assembly of
sober and useful animals, and in the end they did little
credit to their community. The monkeys never ceased
from mischief, and the gay attire of the peacocks
tempted a chief of Tongataboo to steal and carry
them off.

On the first of December, Cook departed from the
Cape of Good Hope, and proceeded in a southeasterly
direction, intending to shape his course around the
southern extremity of New Holland. After sailing
twentyfive days and passing two islands, the tops of
which were covered with snow, although it was mid-
summer in those latitudes, he came to anchor at an
island, which had been recently discovered by Kergue-
len, a French navigator. A bottle was found sus-
pended by a wire between two rocks, sealed, and con-
taining a piece of parchment, on which was written in
French and Latin an account of Kerguelen's voyage
and discovery. The island was desolate, without
inhabitants, trees, or shrubs. A little grass was
obtained for the cattle, and a species of vegetable was
found resembling a wild cabbage, but of no value. It
rained profusely, streams of fresh water came down
from the hills, and the empty casks were replenished.
The shore was covered with seals and sea-dogs, the
former of which, apparently unconscious of danger,
were killed without difficulty, and they afforded a
seasonable supply of oil for lamps and other pur-
poses. Vast flocks of birds hovered around, and
the penguins, so little did they understand the char-
acter of their visiters, would allow themselves to

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 43

be approached and knocked down with clubs. Man
was an enemy, whose sangumary prowess these
tenants of the lonely island had never learnt to
fear, and the simple penguin received his death blow
with a composure and unconcern, that would have im-
mortalized a stoic philosopher. The sailors were
indulged in celebrating Christmas at Kerguelen's
Island, after which the ships sailed, and the next har-
bor to be gained was Adventure Bay, in Van Diemen's
Land, being at the southern limits of New Holland.
As no discoveries were to be attempted during this
run, they proceeded directly to the point of destina-
tion, at which they safely arrived within less than two
months after leaving the Cape of Good Hope.

The ships being moored in this bay, called by Tas-
man, who discovered it, Frederic Henry's Bay, the
sailors were sent out in parties to procure wood, water,
and grass, all of which existed there in great plenty.
No inhabitants appeared, although columns of smoke
had been seen here and there rising through the woods
at some distance, affording a sign that people were in
the neighbourhood. After a day or two the natives
came down to the beach in small parties, men, women,
and children, but they seemed the most wretched of
human beings, wearing no clothes, and carrying with
them nothing but a rude stick about three feet long,
and sharpened at one end. Their skin was black,
hair cm*ly, and the beards of the men, as well as their
hair, besmeared with a red oily substance. They
were inoffensive, neither manifesting fear, nor offer-
ing annoyance to their visiters. When bread was
given them, it was thrown away without being tasted,

44 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

although they were made to understand that it was to
be eaten ; the same they did with fish, which had been
caught in the harbor ; but they accepted birds, and
intimated a fondness for that kind of food. When a
gun was fired, they all ran off like wild deer to the
woods, and were seen no more that day ; but their
fright was not of long duration, for they came again
the next morning with as little unconcern as ever. In
all respects these people appeared in the lowest stage
of human advancement. " They are the only people,"
says Ledyard, " who are known to go with their per-
sons entirely naked, that have ever yet been discover-
ed. Amidst the most stately groves of wood, they
have neither weapons of defence, nor any other species
of instruments applicable to the various purposes of
life ; contiguous to the sea, they have no canoes ; and
exposed from the nature of the climate to the inclem-
ency of the seasons, as well as to the annoyances of
the beasts of the forest, they have no houses to retire
to, but the temporary shelter of a few pieces of old
bark laid transversely over some small poles. They
appear also to be inactive, indolent, and unaffected
with the least curiosity." Cook remarked, that the
natives here resembled those, whom he had seen in
his former voyage on the north part of New Holland,
and from this and other circumstances it was inferred,
that New Holland from that point northward was not
divided by any strait. Subsequent discoveries over-
threw this conjecture, and it has since been made
known, that Van Diemen's Land is an island separated
from New Holland by a passage, or strait, nearly one
hundred miles broad, and containing many small

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 45

islands. It is remarkable, that no resemblance has
been discovered between the language of the natives
here, and that spoken by the New Hollanders.

On Van Diemen's island are now some of the most
flourishing settlements in the British dominions. The
wilderness is disappearing before the strong arm of
enterprise, and under the hand of culture the hills and
valleys yield in abundance all the products, common to
similar latitudes in the north. Emigrants from Eng-
land annually flock to that country, invest their capital
in lands, and engage in agricultural pursuits. Towns
have been built, and commerce established. Wheat,
maize, wool, cattle, and other articles, are largely ex-
ported, and there is hardly recorded in history an
instance of a new colony having increased so rapidly
in numbers and wealth. The wild men, like our
North American Indians, retreat and leave their native
soil to a better destiny.

When Cook had provided his ships with wood and
water, they were unmoored, and their course directed
to New Zealand, where they entered a cove in Queen
Charlotte's Sound. Here they remained a month,
which aflbrded time for observations, and for laying in
such provisions as were found in the country. New
Zealand consists of two islands, which are situate be-
tween parallels of latitude on the south of the equator,
nearly corresponding with those of the United States
on the north, thus having a variable climate, and a soil
suited to most of the productions of temperate regions.
In the character of the inhabitants are exhibited con-
trasts never perceived in any other people. They
are cannibals, devouring human victims with eagerness

46 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

and delight, ferocious beyond example in their wars,
deadly in their revenge, and insatiable in their thirst for
the blood of their enemies ; yet they have many of
the opposite traits, strong attachment to friends, with
a quick sensibility to their sufferings, and grief incon-
solable at the death of a relative ; nor are they devoid
of generosity, or unsusceptible of the tender passion.
Living as they do in a temperate climate, they are an
athletic, hardy race of people, whose progress in re-
finement bears no proportion to their natural powers
of body and mind ; and thus no proper balance being
maintained, the contending elements of human nature,
the propensities, passions, and affections, shoot forth
into the wildest extremes. How they should differ
so entirely from their neighbours, the New Hollan-
ders, who are in nearly the same external condition, is
a question upon which the curious may speculate, but
will hardly come to a satisfactory conclusion. Plau-
sible reasons may nevertheless be adduced to prove,
that the New Zealanders and New Hollanders, not-
withstanding their proximity, have originated from
stocks widely remote.

While the ships lay at anchor in Queen Charlotte's
Sound, a singular love adventure occurred between a
young English sailor and a New Zealand girl, the par-
ticulars of which are related in Ledyard's journal, as
they are also in Cook's Voyages, and which prove the
softer sex among savages, even the daughters of can-
nibals, to be capable of deep affection and strong-
attachment. An intimacy was contracted between a
sailor and a native girl about fourteen years of age,
which grew stronger from day to day, till at length all

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD* 47

the time he could spare from his duties was devoted to
her society. He furnished her with combs to decorate
her hair, and with ornaments for her person ; and, to
make himself more attractive in her eyes, he submit-
ted to be tattooed according to the custom of the
country. His passion was reciprocated in the most
ardent and artless manner by the maiden, Gowanna-
hee, whom no conventional rules had taught to
conceal the emotions of nature ; and although they
understood not each other's language, yet love whis-
pered in accents, which they found no difficulty in
comprehending. Thus their days and hours flew
rapidly away, till the time of separation approached,
Gowannahee was much distressed when such an event
was hinted at ; she would throw her arms around her
lover's neck, and insist that he should not go ; and
such were the alluring arts she used, and such the
willingness of the youth to be led by them, that he
resolved to desert from the ship and remain behind.
He contrived to remove his clothing and other effects
on shore, and to escape by the stratagem of dressing
himself in the costume of the natives and mingling in the
crowd, just as orders were given to sail, and the New
Zealanders were required to leave the ships. When
the roll was called to ascertain if all hands were on
board, his absence was discovered. The cause was
easily apprehended, and some of the officers were dis-
posed to let such an instance of true love have its re-
ward, and not to disturb the enamored sailor in his
dreams of future felicity among the savages of New
Zealand. The less sentimental Cook was not moved
by these mild counsels ; he saw mischief in such a

48 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

precedent, and he was inflexible ; a guard of marines
was despatched to search for the truant, and bring him
back to duty. He had proceeded to the interior and
secreted himself with his faithful Gowannahee, but
his hiding-place was at last discovered. As soon as
she perceived their intention to take him away, she
was overwhelmed with anguish, and at the parting
scene on the beach she yielded herself up (o expres-
sions of grief and despair, which the stoutest heart
could not witness unmoved. The young sailor was
examined and tried for his misdemeanor, but Cook
was so much amused with the schemes he had devised
for himself, and the picture he had drawn of his future
prospects and greatness, as the husband of Gowanna-
hee, and a chief of renown, that he forbore to aggra-
vate the pains of disappointed hope by any formal
punishment.

Recent observations have confirmed all that was
said by Cook and his companions of the New Zealan-
ders. English missionaries have for some years past
been stationed among them, and possessed the means
of becoming perfectly acquainted with their character
and habits. They have witnessed their banquets of
human flesh, their extremes of passion, their savage
barbarity at one time, and their docile, affectionate
temper, and keen sensibility at another War is their
highest delight, and in pursuing an enemy, nothing of
the human being seems left, except his reason mad-
dened with revenge, and making him adroit in the
work of death. In several instances, boats' and ships'
crews have been cut off and devoured by them. Yet
these people are superstitious and full of religious fear,

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 49

imagining themselves to be surrounded by invisible
spirits, who have powder over them, and who must be
conciliated by prayers and ceremonies ; who control
the elements, bring rain on the land, and rouse up the
winds and waves at sea. The missionaries have
known persons become so frantic, at the death of a
near relation, as to commit suicide ; and it is a common
thing for them to wound and mangle their bodies in a
frightful manner on such occasions. When Mr Mars-
den made his second missionary tour to these islands,
after having been away two or three years, his old
acquaintances burst into tears in talking of their
friends, who had died during his absence. History^
does not acquaint us with more eminent examples of
humanity and pious efforts, of resolution and self-
denial, than are manifested in the missionaries, who
have forsaken even the common comforts of civilized
life, and settled down with a determination to pass
their days in this region of moral darkness and human
debasement.

While Cook was at New Zealand he was greatly
assisted in his intercourse with the people by Omai, a
native of the Society Islands, whom he had taken to
England on a former voyage, and who was now re-
turning to his country, loaded with presents from the
king, and other persons whom curiosity had drawn
around him, in Great Britain. Although Omai had
never before seen a New Zealander, yet the language
so much resembled his own, that he could easily con-
verse with the inhabitants. As he knew English, he
thus became a ready interpreter. This was an advan-
7

50 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

tage, which Cook had never been able to enjoy on
any former occasion.

The vessels weighed anchor and departed from
Queen Charlotte's Sound, destined to Otaheite, or, as
it is now called, Tahiti, the largest of the Society
Islands, and about fifteen hundred miles distant from
New Zealand. Head winds and boisterous weather
forced them out of their course ; grass and water for
the cattle, as well as fresh provisions for the men, be-
gan to fail ; and it was thought best to bear away for
the Friendly Islands, where a supply could be at once
obtained. On this passage they fell in with several
islands never before discovered, but their shores were
so closely bound with coral reefs as to prevent the ap-
proach of the ships. The natives came off in canoes,
and brought hogs and fruit, which they gave in ex-
change for articles of little value.

A small party, consisting of Mr Burney, three or
four other officers, and Omai, landed on one of these
islands, called Watteeoo, where they were immediate-
ly plundered of everything they had about them, and
detained through the day. Great crowds gathered
around, and annoyed them much, but no violence was
offered to their persons. Here Omai was astonished
to find three of his own countrymen. Their story-
was affecting. Several years before, they had set off
in a large canoe with a party of about twenty persons,
men, women, and children, to pass from Otaheite to
Ulietea, a neighbouring island. A storm overtook
them, and, after continuing three days, drove them so
far out to sea, that they knew not where they were,
nor what course to steer. Some of the women and

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 51

children had perished in the storm, and others were so
much exhausted as to survive no longer. The canoe
was carried along by the current from day to day ;
water and provision failed ; some of the survivors died
of hunger and fatigue ; others in the frenzy of despair
jumped overboard and were drowned ; and after thir-
teen days, when the canoe was discovered by the
natives of Watteeoo, it contained but four men, and
these so much reduced by famine and suffering, as to be
unconscious of their situation, and scarcely to be dis-
tinguished from the dead bodies, with which they were
promiscuously lying, in the bottom of the boat. They
were taken on shore, and by kind treatment they
gradually recovered their consciousness and strength.
One had since died, but the other three said they
were happy in their adopted country, and declined
Omai's invitation to return with him to their native
islands, adding that their nearest relatives had perished
before their eyes on the disastrous voyage, and it
would only be renewing their grief to visit again the
places, in which they had formerly known them.

The distance between Otaheite and Watteeoo is
more than fifteen hundred miles, and this voyage of a
canoe affords an important fact in solving the great
problem, which has so long perplexed geographers and
speculating philosophers, as to the manner in which
the innumerable clusters of islands in the Pacific ocean
have been peopled. We here have proof incontestible,
that a communication between remote islands was
possible, even by such means only as the natives
themselves possessed. This single fact, in short, is
enough to settle the question.

52 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

After touching at Anamoca, and remaining some
days at the Happaee Islands, Cook came to anchor in
a harbor of Tongataboo, on the ninth of June. Here
they staid twenty-six days, collecting a great abun-
dance of provisions, and living on social and friendly
terms with the natives. This island is exceedingly
fertile, covered with forests and luxuriant herbage.
Agriculture and the arts of life were carried to a much
greater extent here, than at New Zealand, or indeed
most of the South Sea islands. The kind disposition
of the people had given to Tongataboo, and the clus-
ter of islands in its neighbourhood, the name of the
Friendly Islands. Later experience has proved, that
they had a smaller claim to this distinction, than was
at first supposed. It is very probable, however, that
their acquaintance with civilized men was the principal
cause of their apparent change of character. They
learnt new vices faster than they acquired a knowledge
of their criminality, or the moral power of resisting
temptation. Nowhere have the missionaries found
their situation more uncomfortable, or their task more
difficult, than at the Friendly Islands. When visited
by Cook, the people were comparatively amiable, sim-
ple, and happy, addicted to the weaknesses, but not
to the grosser crimes of the savage state ; accustomed
to warlike enterprises, but not making them, as did
the New Zealanders, the chief source of their
pleasure, and the great business of their lives. On
the contrary, they had amusements of an innocent
kind, as well as curious religious ceremonies, which
occupied much of their time, and were suited to a
state of peace and tranquillity. These were often

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 53

exhibited, and obviously as much with a desire to
please their visitants, as to show off their skill to ad-
vantage, or promote their own gratification. The
king, or great chief, whose name was Poulaho, treated
Cook with marked respect, and caused all his people
to do the same, as far as he could exercise his power
to that end. Ledyard describes in an agreeable man-
ner the scenes, that came under his observation at
Tongataboo. The day after landing, it was his duty
to be on shore, and he passed the night with Poulaho,
who had declined Cook's invitation to go with him on
board.

" It was just dusk," says Ledyard, " when they
parted, and as I had been present during a part of this
first interview, and was detained on shore, I was glad
he did not go off, and asked him to my tent ; but Pou-
lako chose rather to have me go with him to his house,
where we went and sat down together without the
entrance. We had been here but a few minutes, be-
fore one of the natives advanced through the grove to
the skirts of the green, and there halted. Poulaho
observed him, and told me he wanted him, upon
which I beckoned to the Indian, and he came to us.
When he approached Poulaho, he squatted down upon
his hams, and put his forehead to the sole of Poulaho's
foot, and then received some directions from him, and
went away, and returned again very soon with some
baked yarns and fish rolled up in fresh plantain leaves,
and deposited in a little basket made of palm leaves,
and a large cocoanut shell full of clean fresh water,
and a smaller one of salt water. These he set down,
and went and brought a mess of the same kind, and

54 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

set them down by me. Poulaho then desked I would
eat ; but preferring salt, which I had in the tent, to the
sea water which they used, I called one of the guard,
and had some of that brought me to eat with my fish,
which was really most delightfully dressed, and of
which I ate very heartily.

" Their animal and vegetable food is dressed in the
same manner here, as at the southern and northern
tropical islands throughout these seas, being all baked
among hot stones laid in a hole, and covered over first
with leaves and then with mould. Poulaho was fed
by the chief who waited on him, both with victuals
and drink. After he had finished, the remains were
carried away by the chief in w^aiting, who returned
soon after with two large separate rolls of cloth, and
two little low wooden stools. The cloth was for a
covering while asleep, and the stools to raise and rest
the head on, as we do on a pillow. These were left
within the house, or rather under the roof, one side
being open. The floor within was composed of coarse
dry grass, leaves, and flowers, over which were spread
large well wrought mats. On this Poulaho and I re-
moved and sat down, while the chief unrolled, and
spread out the cloth ; after which he retired, and in a
few minutes there appeared a fine young girl about
seventeen years of age, who, approaching Poulaho,
stooped and kissed his great toe, and then retired and
sat down in an opposite part of the house. It was
now about nine o'clock, and a bright moonshine ; the
sky was serene, and the winds hushed. Suddenly I
heard a number of their flutes, beginning nearly at the
same time, burst from every quarter of the surrounding

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD- 55

grove ; and whether this was meant as an exhilaratmg
serenade, or a soothing soporific to the great Poulaho,
I cannot tell. Immediately on hearing the music he
took me by the hand, intimating that he was going to
sleep, and showing me the other cloth, which was
spread nearly beside him, and the pillow, invited me
to use it."

After describing the occupations of the natives,
their traffic, articles of trade, and some of their cus-
toms, he speaks of their amusements.

" The markets being over, there were generally an
hour or two, and those before dark, in which the na-
tives, to entertain us and exhibit their own accom-
plishments, used to form matches at wrestling, boxing,
and other athletic exercises, of which they were very
vain, and in which they were by far the best accom-
plished of all the people we ever visited before or
after. These exercises were always performed on the
green within the circle, and among the Indian specta-
tors there were a certain number of elderly men, who
presided over and regulated the exercise. When one
of the wrestlers, or combatants, was fairly excelled,
they signified it by a short sonorous sentence, which
they sung, expressing that he was fallen, fairly fallen,
or that he was fairly conquered, and that the victor
kept the field. From this there was no appeal, nor
indeed did they seem to want it, for among their
roughest exercises I never saw any of them choleric,
envious, malicious, or revengeful ; but preserving their
tempers, or being less irascible than we generally are,
they quit the stage with the same good nature with
which they entered it.

56 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

" When they wrestle, they seize each other by a
strong plaited girdle, made of the fibres of the cocoa-
nut, and worn round the waist for that purpose ; and
they describe nearly the same operations in this con-
test that we do in what we call hugging or scuffling.
In boxing their manoeuvres are different. They had
both hands clenched, and bound round separately wdth
small cords, which perhaps was intended to prevent
their clenching each other when closely engaged, thus
preventing foul play ; or it might be to preserve the
joints of the fingers, and especially the thumb, from
being dislocated. Perhaps the best general idea I can
convey of their attitudes in this exercise, is to com-
pare them with those of the ancient gladiators of
Rome, which they much resembled.

" They are very expert and intrepid in these per-
formances, but as they are mere friendly efforts of skill
and prowess, they continue no longer than till the pur-
poses of such a contention are answered ; and the
combatant, as soon as he finds that he shall be con-
quered, is seldom such an obstinate fool, as to be beat
out of his senses to be made sensible he is so, but re-
tires most commonly with a whole skin. But the
exercise of the club is not so, and as these contests
are very severe, and even dangerous, they are seldom
performed. We never saw but one instance of it, but
it was a most capital one, as the performers were
capital characters ; and though we expected the exhi-
bition to be very short, yet it lasted nearly twenty
minutes, protracted by the skill of the combatants in
avoiding each other's blows, some of which were no
less violent than artful. After being pretty well buf-

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 57

feted about the body, a fortuitous blow upon the head
of one decided the matter, and the conquered was
carried off, while the victor, elated with success, stood
and enjoyed the subsequent shouts of praise, that pro-
ceeded from the spectators. When these shouts end-
ed, the young women round the circle rose, and sang,
and danced a short kind of interlude in celebration of
the hero."

Not to be outdone by the monarch of the Friendly
Isles in politeness and attempts to please, Cook got up
a brilliant exhibition of fireworks, with which Poulaho
and all his people were greatly astonished and delight-
ed. The mathematical and astronomical instruments,
which had been fitted up in tents on shore, were also
matters of curiosity and wonder. The natives were
particularly amused, likewise, with the horses, cows,
sheep, goats, and other animals, which Ledyard said,
on leaving the Cape of Good Hope, made the ships
resemble Noah's ark. As dogs and hogs were the
only animals found on the islands, and of course the
only ones ever before seen by the inhabitants, they
seemed completely puzzled to know what to make of
these new orders of the creation. The sheep and
goats they called birds ; but the horses, cows, cats, and
rabbits, were nondescripts for which no place had been
assigned in their scientific arrangement.

Thus agreeably passed the days at Tongataboo;
the good-natured people omitted nothing, which was
in their power, to gratify their visiters, whether by
supplying them with the best provisions the islands
afforded, or by amusing them with innocent pastimes.
One thing only marred the harmony of their inter-

58 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

course. These simple and hospitable people, each
and all, from the highest rank downwards, were incor-
rigible thieves ; that is, they made no scruple to take
whatever they could lay their fingers upon, and appro-
priate it to their own use. This habit was prevalent
throughout all the South Sea islands, but nowhere had
the voyagers been so much annoyed by it, as at these
islands of friendship. Cook resorted to summary and
severe measures to teach the natives what he thought
of this vice, and sometimes inflicted punishments little
suited to the moral light of the people, whom he
arraigned as transgressors. It does not appear that
pilfering was deemed a crime, or a disreputable of-
fence, and indeed the historian of Cook's Voyages
declares, that " the inhabitants of the South Sea
islands in their petty larcenies were actuated by a
childish disposition, rather than a thievish one." In
this view of the subject, it can hardly be imagined
that there was any natural right in the civilized visi-
ters to inflict harsh punishment on their ignorant and
kind entertainers ; on the contrary, it was cruel and
unjust ; it was the last way to gain friends, or to in-
spire the natives with a love of the moral code. Led-
yard speaks with warmth of some examples of this
kind, which came under his notice, but adds, alluding
to Cook, " It must be remembered that the ability of
performing the important errand before us, depended
very much, if not entirely, upon the precarious supplies
we might procure from these and other such islands,
and he must of consequence be very anxious and soli-
citous in this concernment ; but perhaps no considera-
tion will excuse the severity, which he sometimes used

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 69

towards the natives on these occasions ; and he would
probably have done better to consider, that the full ex-
ertion of extreme power is an argument of extreme
weakness ; and nature seemed to inform the insulted
natives of the truth of this maxim, for before we quit-
ted Tongataboo, we could not go anywhere into the
country upon business or pleasure without danger."

One instance is related with more particularity than
others, as it occurred in high life, and was made a
state concern. In Tongataboo was a chief called
Feenou, a man of fine personal appearance, graceful
and commanding in his carriage, frank in his disposi-
tion, generous, enterprising, and bold ; in short, he
was the idol of the people, and throughout all the isles
there was no chief, whose renown was so loudly and
heartily trumpeted as that of Feenou. He was the
man, whom the great Poulaho delighted to honor
above others. When the strangers came, Feenou was
their early and devoted friend, and his attachment and
kind offices held out to the last. " If they lost any
goods, and these were carried either to the interior of
Tongataboo, or to any of the detached islands, their
only confidential resource was Feenou ; or if any other
emergency required despatch, policy, courage, or
force, Feenou was the man to advise and act." Such
were the character and deeds of this chief. He could
subdue the hearts of men, and the strength of an ene-
my, but he could not conquer the tyranny of habit.
From day to day he had gazed with inward raptures
upon the gaudy plumage of the peacocks, which had
been brought with much care and trouble from Eng-
land ; their charms were irresistible ; just as the ves-
sels were about to sail, the peacocks disappeared ;

60 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

Feenou was also out of the way ; he had stolen the
birds, and concealed himself with his booty.

The affront was resented by Cook in an extraordi-
nary manner ; he immediately ordered Poulaho, the
king, to be arrested, and placed a guard over him in
his own house, giving him to understand that he
should be held a prisoner till the peacocks were re-
stored. This was a novel mode of making a king
answerable for the acts of his subjects. Much disor-
der ensued ; the chiefs felt the insult offered to their
sovereign, and began to assume a warlike attitude, and
threaten the guard ; but Poulaho advised them to de-
sist, and preserve peace till a reconciliation should be
attempted ; and when Cook appeared, the khig salut-
ed him with dignity and respect, but with a manifest
sense of the injustice that was practised upon him.
His coolness and counsel kept the people from offering
violence to the guards, who surrounded him with fixed
bayonets; and the next day Feenou himself came
forward, entreated for the release of the king, and
assured Cook that the birds should be returned to him
before sunset. Thus the affair was happily termi-
nated, leaving a much stronger proof of the firmness
than the prudence of the great navigator. The re-
conciliation was followed by magnificent presents of
red feathers and provisions on the part of Feenou, and
others equally valuable from Cook. He gave Poulaho
some of the domestic animals, which he had brought
from England for the purpose of distributing among
the islands. All parties separated mutually satisfied
with each other, and with as warm tokens of friend-
ship from the natives, as could be expected after the
recent transactions.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 61

CHAPTER IV.

Society Islands. — Otaheite. — Ledyard's description of the language, customs,
religion, laws, and government of the natives. — Their probable faith in the
doctrine of transmigration. — Remarks on his mode of reasoning on this sub-
ject.— His theoiy of the origin of customs and superstitions. — Notions of a
Diety among the Otaheitans. — Conduct of Omai. — Difficulties attending the
efforts to civilize savages. — Sandwich Islands discovered. — The vessels proceed
to the American continent, and anchor in Nootka Sound. — Appearance and
manners of the people. — Indian wampmn. — The abundance of furs. — Canni-
balism.— Curious digression on the origin and practice of sacrifices. — Captain
Cook passes Bering's Straits, explores the northern ocean till stopped by the
ice, and returns to the island of Onalaska. — Sends Ledyard with two Indians
in search of a Russian establishment on the coast. — His account of this
adventure. — In what manner he was transported in a canoe. — Village of
Russians and Indians. — Hot baths. — Their habitations and manner of Uving
described. — Bering's vessel. — Ledyard rettirns to the ships, and reports to
Captain Cook.- — Expedition returns to the Sandvidch Islands.

We shall next join our navigators at the Society
Islands, where they arrived on the fourteenth of Au-
gust. Many of the officers and seamen, who had been
there on a former voyage, were recognised by the na-
tives, and received with great cordiality ; the day of
landing at Otaheite was given up to festivity and
mutual congratulations between old acquaintances.

The occurrences during their stay at these islands,
are related in a lively manner by Ledyard. He de-
scribes the natural productions of the Society Islands,
the appearance and condition of the natives, their
food, clothing, and houses, their language, customs,
religion, laws, and government. From the minute-
piBss with which he speaks on most of these subjects,
it is evident that the principal points in the essay

62 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

mentioned by Mr Burney were still fresh in his
memory, and moreover that he was a close and in-
quisitive observer of everything, which came within
his reach or knowledge.

" The inhabitants," he remarks, " are of the largest
size of Europeans ; the men are tall, strong, well
limbed, and fairly shaped. The women of superior
rank among them are also in general above our middle
size, but those of the inferior rank are far below it ;
some of them are quite small. Their complexion is a
clear olive, or brunette, and the whole contour of the
face quite handsome, except the nose, which is generally
a little inclined to be flat. Their hair is black and
coarse ; the men have beards, but pluck the greatest
part of them out ; they are vigorous, easy, graceful,
and liberal in their deportment, and of a courteous,
hospitable disposition, but shrewd and artful. The
women cut their hair short, and the men wear theirs
long. They have a custom of staining their bodies in
a manner that is universal among all those islands, and
is called by them tattooing ; in doing this they prick
the skin with an instrument of small sharp bones,
which they dip as occasion requires into a black com-
position of coal dust and water, which leaves an in-
delible stain. The operation is painful, and it is some
days before the wound is well.

" Their clothing consists of a cloth made of the
inner rind of the bark of three diiferent kinds of trees,
the Chinese paper mulberry, the bread-fruit tree, and
a kind of wild fig tree, which, in the formation of dif-
ferent kinds of cloth, are differently disposed of by
using one singly, or any two, or all of them together.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 63

The principal excellences of this cloth are its coolness
and softness; its defects are its being pervious to
water and easily torn. They sometimes, especially if
it is wet, wear fine mats of which they have a great
variety.

*' Their amusements are music, dancing, wrestling,
and boxing, all which are like those of Tongataboo.

" As to the religion, laws, and government of these
people, much has been said about them by former
voyagers ; and in truth too much, especially about
their religion, which they are not fond of discovering,
and therefore, when urged on the matter, they have
often, rather than displease those who made the in-
quiry, told not only different accounts, but such as
were utterly inconsistent with what we knew to be
true from ocular demonstration. They assured us,
for instance, that they never sacrificed human bodies,
but an accident happened, that contradicted it, and
gave us the full proof of it, the operation and design.

" They believe in the immortality of the soul, at
least its existence in a future state ; but how it exists,
whether as a mere spiritual substance, or whether it
is united again to a corporeal or material form, and
what form, is uncertain. It is supposed they have
notions of transmigration. Our conjectures originate
from observing that universal, constant, and uniform
regard, which they pay in a greater or less degree to
every species of subordinate beings, even to the minut-
est insect, and the most insignificant reptile. This
was never esteemed a philosophical sentiment, nor a
mere dictate of nature, because the people who enter-
tain these notions are not led to embrace them by the

64 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

unbiassed impulses of nature, which would lead them
to regard their own species more than any other. It
must, therefore, be from other motives, and I know of
none so probable as religion or superstition, which are
indeed synonymous terms when applied to these peo-
ple ; besides, it is well known to have been a religious
sentiment among many other people, both ancient and
modern, who have claimed the appellation of civilized.
It exists now among several Asiatic sects, both east
and west of the Ganges, particularly among the
Banians, who abstain from all animal food. It is well
known, that some tribes in Asia have built hospitals
for certain species of subordinate beings."

The author's reasoning here about the doctrine of
transmigration is somewhat curious, but his inference
that the natives believed in it, because they showed a
regard for inferior animals, is at least questionable.
He goes on to enforce his opinion, however, by re-
marking that they eat little animal food, and abstain
from the flesh of some kinds of birds altogether. In
killing animals, also, they are careful to inflict as little
pain as possible ; they are extremely indulgent to rats,
with which they are much infested, and rarely do
them any harm ; when stung by flies or musquitoes,
they only frighten them away. This lenity towards
animals, however commendable in those who practise
it, will hardly prove their faith in the doctrine of
transmigration, or that these savages refrained from
crushing a fly or musquito, because they apprehended
a spirit, which had once animated a human form,
had been doomed to an existence in one of these
insects. It is a favorite theory of the author, at which

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 65

he hints on several occasions, that such habits and
superstitions of a people, as are woven into their char-
acter and history, must have come dovj^n from some
very remote time, and not have sprung out of casual or
local circumstances, of which any knowledge exists.
He says, " all the customs of mankind appear to be
derivative and traditionary." How far he would carry
back the tradition, he does not add ; but this doctrine
of transmigration he traces to Asia, and supposes it to
have found its way to the islands of the Pacific with
the first settlers, who came from that quarter, and to
have kept its place through all subsequent changes
among the superstitions of their descendants.

" Their notions of a Deity," he continues, " and
the speculative parts of their religion, are involved
even among themselves in mystery, and perplexed
with inconsistencies ; and their priests, who alone pre-
tend to be informed of it, have, by their own indus-
trious fabrications and the addition of its traditionary
fables, shut themselves up in endless mazes of inex-
tricable labyrinths. None of them act alike in their
ceremonies, and none of them narrate alike when in-
quired of concerning the matter ; therefore, what ihey
conceive respecting a God we cannot tell ; though we
conclude upon the whole that they worship one great
Supreme, the author and governor of all things ; but
there seems to be such a string of subordinate gods
intervening between him and the least of those, and
the characters of the whole so contrasting, whimsical,
absurd, and ridiculous, that their mythology is very
droll, and represents the best of the group no better
than a harlequin.
9

66 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

" The government of Otaheite resembles the early
condition of every government, which, in an unim-
proved and unrefined state, is ever a kind of fe"dal
system of subordination, securing licentious liberty to
a few, and a dependant servility to the rest."

Having above spoken of Omai, the native of the
Society Islands, whom Cook had taken with him to
England on a former voyage, and who had received
every possible advantage for becoming acquainted
with the habits, arts, and enjoyments of civilized life,
the reader may be curious to know, in what manner
he demeaned himself when he returned to his native
country, and what were the prospects of his being
benefited by his acquisitions and experience. In this
case, as in many others, it will be seen, that the at-
tempt to enlighten the ignorance and change the
character of the savage was unsuccessful. On landing
at Otaheite, says Ledyard, " we had a number of
visiters, among whom w^as a sister of Omai, who came
to welcome her brother to his native country again ;
but the behavior of Omai on that occasion was conso-
nant to his proud, empty, ambitious heart, and he
refused at first to own her for his sister ; the reason
of which was, her being a poor obscure girl, and as he
expected to be nothing but king, the connexion would
disgrace him." In a few days the vessels sailed over
to Hueheine, the native island of Omai, at which
he was finally to be left. Here a small house was
built for him, in which his effects were deposited.
About an acre of ground adjoining the house was pur-
chased of the natives, surrounded with a ditch, and
converted into a garden, in which various European

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 67

seeds were planted. Several of the live animals,
broUg'it from England, were also put onshore, and left
under his charge.

" When ready to sail, Captain Cook made an enter-
tainment on behalf of Omai at his little house, and in
order to recommend him still further to the chiefs of
the island, he invited them also. Every body enjoyed
himself but Omai, v^'ho became more dejected as the
time of his taking leave of us for ever approached ;
and when he came finally to bid adieu, the scene was
very affecting to the W'hole company. It is certainly
to be regretted, that Omai will never be of any service
to his country by his travels, but perhaps will render
his countrymen, and himself too, the more unhappy."

The subsequent fate of Omai is not known, but
had his knowledge, his efforts, or his example pro-
duced any valuable effects in his native island, the
monuments of them would havo been obvious to
future voyagers. There has never been a more idle
scheme of philanthropy, than that of converting a
savage into a civilized man. No one attempt, it is
believed, has ever been successful. Even Sampson
Occum, before his death, relapsed into some of the
worst habits of his tribe, and no North American In-
dian of unmixed blood, whatever pains may have been
taken with his education, has been known to adopt
the manners of civilized men, or to pass his life among
them. The reason is sufficiently plain, without resort-
ing to natural instinct. In a civilized community, a
man who has been a savage, must always feel himself
inferior to those around him ; this feeling will drive
him to his native woods, where he can claim and

68 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

maintain an equality with his associates. This is the
universal sentiment of nature, and none but a slave
can be without it. When a man lives with savages,
he will assume the habits of a savage, the light of
education will be extinguished, and his mind and his
moral sense will soon adapt themselves to his con-
dition.

The vessels at length departed from the Society
Islands, and took a northerly course, with the inten-
tion of falling in with the coast of America, at about
the fortieth degree of north latitude. After sailing
six weeks, without approaching any other land, than
an uninhabited island, consisting chiefly of a bed of
coral rocks, and abounding in turtle of a fine quality,
the mariners were greeted with a view of high land at
a distance, which was not marked on the charts. It
proved to be a new discovery, and was one of the
group of islands, named afterwards by Cook the Sand-
wick Islands. A safe harbor was found and entered,
in which the vessels were no sooner anchored, than
they were surrounded by canoes filled with the
natives, who regarded the new comers with mex-
pressible surprise, though not with apparent fear. A
source of astonishment to the navigators was, that the
people should speak a language differing but little from
those of the Society Islands and New Zealand, which
were distant, the first nearly three thousand, and the
other four thousand miles, with an ocean intervening.
The wide extent of the Polynesian dialects was not
then known. Although very shy at first, the natives
"w^ere not long in summoning courage to go on board.
They looked with wonder upon the objects around

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 69

them, examined the hands, faces, and clothes of the
sailors, and inquired if thej could eat. When satisfied
on this head, by seeing them devour dry biscuit, the
simple islanders were eager to show their hospitality,
and presented them with pigs, yams, sweet potatoes,
and plantains, thus verifying a, declaration of Ledyard
on another occasion, that " all uncivilized men are
hospitable." A friendly intercourse was established,
and provisions were given in barter for old iron, nails,
and other articles of little intrinsic value, but impor-
tant to the natives.

Cook remained ten days only at these islands, and
then sailed for the American coast, intending to visit
them again on his return from the north in the follow-
ing winter. It was now the first of February, and no
time was to be lost in hastening his voyage to the
northward, for his plan was to proceed along the
American shore, and run through Bering's Strait, so
as to explore the polar latitudes at the proper season.
Without any remarkable accident or adventure he
reached the continent, and anchored in Nootka Sound.
This is an extraordinary bay, extending several
leagues into the country, and completely land-locked.
On the *first night he ships were anchored in water
nearly five hundred feet deep, and in other parts it
was more than six hundred. A convenient harbor
was found the next day. The bay is surrounded by
lofty hills, and the shore is so bold, that the ships
were secured by ropes fastened to trees.

Our wanderer was now on his native continent, and
although more than three thousand miles from the
place of his birth, yet he could not resist the sensa-

70 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

tions kindled by the remembrance of home. All the
deep emotions, says he, " incident to natural attach-
ments and early prejudices played around my heart,
and I indulged them." The feeling was spontaneous
and genuine. Ledyard saw in the inhabitants, like-
wise, indications of an affinity between them and the
Indians, whom he had visited in his native country.
In ail his travels he manifests a remarkable acute ness
in observing the human character in its various grada-
tions of improvement, and particularly in detecting
resemblances between uncivilized people of different
regions. Whether among the South Sea Islands, on
the Northwest Coast of America, in Kamtschatka, Si-
beria, or Egypt, remarks of this sort escape him con-
tinually. He seems to have had in his mind a scale
upon which he graduated the nations of men, and
which he studied so carefully, that he could assign
to each its proper place. His observations w ere not
restricted to one class of qualities or circumstances,
but they extended to all that constitute individual and
national peculiarities, to the intellect, physical charac-
teristics, modes of living, dress, warlike implements,
habitations, furniture, government, religion, social
state, and domestic habits. Nor was he merely ob-
serving and inquisitive ; he was addicted to thought
and redeciion. His theories were raised on the basis
of facts ; his results were sustained by reasons, satis-
factory at least to himself. He was fond of pursuing
analogies, especially in regard to the origin, customs,
and characters of the various races of men, and here
the wide compass of his inquiries supplied him with
so many materials not accessible to others, that he

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 71

sometimes came to conclusions less obvious to those
who follow him, than they were to his own mind.
His description of the people of Nootka is here in-
serted.

" I had no sooner beheld these Americans, tlian I set
them down for the same kind of people, that inhabit
the opposite side of the continent They are rather
above the middle stature, copper-colored, and ol' an
athletic make. They have lon^ black hair, which
they generally wear in a club on the top of the head ;
they fill it, when dressed, with oil, paint, and the down
of birds. Tney also paint their faces with red, blue?
and white colors, but from whence they had them, or
how they were prepared, they would not inform us,
nor could we tell. Their clothing generally consists
of skins, but they have two other sorts of garmeiits ;
the one is made of the inner rind of some sort oi
bark, twisted and united together like the woof of our
coarse cloths ; the other very strongly resembles the
New Zealand toga, and is also principally made with
the hair of their dogs, which are mostly white and of
the domestic kind. Upon this garment is displayed,
very well executed, the manner of their catching the
whale ; we saw nothing so well done by a savage in
our travels. Their garments of all kinds are worn
mantlewise, and the borders of them are fringed, or
terminated wifh some particular kind of ornament.
Their richest skins, whe;i converted to garments, are
edged with a great curiosity. This is nothing less,
than the very species of ivampnm, so well known on
the opposite side of the co'itiiseot. It is identically
the same ; and this wampum was not only found

72 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

among all the aborigines we saw on this side of the
continent, but even exists unmutilated on the opposite
coasts of Norvh Asia. We saw them make use of no
coverings to their feet or legs, and it was seldom they
covered their heads. When they did, it was with a
kind of a basket covering, made after the manner and
form of the Chinese and Chinese Tartars' hats.
Their language is very guttural, and if it were possi-
ble to reduce it to our orthography, it would very
much abound with consonants. In their manners they
resemble the other aborigines of North America.
They are bold and ferocious, sly and reserved, not
easily provoked, but revengeful ; we saw no signs of
religion or worship among them, and if they sacrifice,
it is to the god of liberty."

The fact here stated, respecting wampum, is curious,
and confirms a remark of the author, that the diffusive
power of commerce extended at that time throughout
the whole continent of North America. " Nothing,"
says he, " can impede the progress of commerce among
the uninformed part of mankind, but an intervention of
too remote a communication by water." Civilized
nations may impose restrictions, or adopt regulations,
under the name of protecting laws, and thereby embar-
rass commerce, but when left free to move in its own
channels, there is no obscure nook of human society^
which it will not pervade. Ledyard discovered,
among the natives on the Northwest coast, copper
bracelets and knives, which could only have come to
them across the continent from Hudson's Bay. Clap-
perton found articles of English manufacture in the
heart of Africa ; and the Russian embassy to Buka-

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 73

ria met with others from the same source in central
Asia. The wampum of the North American Indians
has been an article of traffic, and probably passed as
a kind of currency among all the tribes from time
immemorial.

Ledyard's views of the commercial resources of
Nootka Sound, and other parts of the Northwest
Coast, must not be overlooked in this place, because
they were the foundation of many important succeed-
ing events of his life, in suggesting to him the benefits
of a trafficing voyage to that coast. It will be seen
hereafter, that he was the first, whether in Europe or
America, to propose such a voyage as a mercantile
enterprise, and that he persevered against numerous
obstacles for several years, though with fruitless en-
deavors, to accomplish his object. The furs, pur-
chased of the natives for a mere trifle, were sold in
China at an enormous advance, which had not been
anticipated, but which gave ample proof of the advan-
tages of such a commerce, undertaken upon a large
scale. After enumerating some of the productions of
the soil, he adds, " The light in which this country
will appear most to advantage respects the variety of
its animals, and the richness of their furs. They have
foxes, sables, hares, marmosets, ermines, weazles,
bears, wolves, deer, moose, dogs, otters, beavers, and a
species of weazle called the glutton. The skin of this
animal was sold at Kamtschatka, a Russian factory on
the Asiatic coast, for sixty rubles, which is near twelve
guineas, and had it been sold in China, it would have
been worth thirty guineas. We purchased while here
about fiteen hundred beaver, besides other skins, but
10

74 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

took none but the best, having no thoughts at that
tune of using them to any other advantage, than con-
verting them to the purposes of clothing ; but it after-
wards happened that skins, which did not cost the pur-
chaser sixpence sterlins:, sold in China for one hundred
dollars. Neither did we purchase a quarter part of the
beaver and other fur skins we might have done, and
most certainly should have done, had we known of
meeting the opportunity of disposing of them to such
an astonishing profit."

At Nootka Sound, and at the Sandwich Islands,
Ledyard witnessed instances of cannibalism. In both
places he saw human flesh prepared for food, but on
one occasion only at each ; for, he says, the sailors ex-
pressed such a horror at the sight, that the natives
never ventured to repeat the act in their presence. In
this part of his narrative he makes a digression on
sacrifices, which I shall quote, not so much for its
originality, or the conclusiveness of its reasoning, as
to show his manner of considering the subject. His
notion is, that cannibalism, or the custom of eating
human flesh, which has by no means been uncommon
among savage tribes, had its origin in the custom of
sacrificing human victims. There is good evidence,
that other tribes of North American Indians, besides
those at Nootka, have been cannibals, if they are not
so even at the present day. There was a time, when
some philanthropists professed to doubt the existence
of this habit, so shocking to humanity, but the mass
of testimony brought to light since Cook's first voyage
is such, as to conquer the most obstinate reluctance to
conviction. Let the skeptic look at New Zealand,
and cease to doubt.

Ji

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 75

" The custom of sacrificing is very ancient. The first
instance we have of it is in the lives of Cain and Abel.
Their sacrifices consisted in part of animal flesh, burnt
upon an altar dedicated to God. This custom exists
now among all the uncivilized and Jewish nations, in
the essential rites requisite to prove it analogous to the
first institution. The only material change in the
ceremony is, that the barbarous nations have added
human flesh. Whether this additional ingredient
in the oblation took place at a remote subsequent
period, by the antecedent intervention of any extraor-
dinary circumstance independent of the original form,
does not appear, unless we place the subsequent period
below the time of Abraham, or perhaps below the
time of Jephthah. The circumstance of Abraham's
intended sacrifice of Isaac, to which he was enjoined
by the Deity, though he absolutely did not do it, yet
was sufficient to introduce the idea, that such a sacri-
fice was the most pleasing to God, and as it was an
event very remarkable, it probably became an histori-
cal subject, and went abroad among other tribes, and
was handed down among them by tradition, and liable
to all the changes incident thereto ; and in time the
story might have been, that Abraham not only oftered,
but really did sacrifice his own son. But perhaps the
story of Jephthah, judge of Israel, is more to the point.
It is said, he sacrificed his daughter as a burnt-oflering
to the god, who had been propitious to him in war ;
which does appear to be an act independent of custom,
or tradition, as it was performed wholly from the obliga-
tions of a rash vow, made to the Deity in the fulness
of a heart surcharged with hopes and fears. It is also

76 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

a fact, that after this, particularly in the reign of the
wicked Ahaz, it was a general custom, especially
among the heathen, to make their children ' pass
through the fire ; ' by which I suppose it is understood,
that they were sacrificed with fire.

" It seems, then, that the circumstance of adding
human flesh in the ceremony of sacrificing, did take
place in the years antecedent to Christ, and most
probably from the example of Jephthah. After this we
find it shifting places, attending the diffusive emigra-
tions of the tribes, and commixing with mankind in
general, but especially with those disunited from the
chosen descendants of the great Abraham ; whose de-
scendants, being constantly favored with civil and
religious instructions from Heaven itself, were not only
preserved from superstition and barbarity themselves,
but were the means of furnishing the detached heathen
with a variety of customs and ceremonies, that from
the mere light of nature they never could have thought
of ; nor could they preserve them pure and uncorrupt
after they had adopted them. Even the favored
Israelites were perpetually deviating into schisms and
cabals, and frequently into downright idolatry, and all
the vanity of superstition and unbridled nonsense,
from the imbecility of human policy, when uninflu-
enced by heavenly wisdom and jurisprudence. No
wonder, then, that the separate tribes from the house
of Abraham, though they primarily received many of
their principles of civil and religious government from
a pure fountain, should debase and contaminate them
by the spurious conjunction of things derived from
their own imaginations. And this seems to have been

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 77

the course of things to this day. There hath always
been a part of mankind conspicuous for knowledge,
superior in wisdom, and favored by Heaven, from
whom others are separated ; and these, like the moon,
have only shone with borrowed light. Some customs
may be local and indigenous to particular times and
circumstances, both in the civilized and uncivilized
world, but far the greater part are derivative, and
were originally bestowed on man by his supreme
Governor ; those that we find among the civilized and
wise, measured on a philosophic scale, are uncorrupt-
ed, while those that we find existing in parts remote
from civilization and knowledge, though they have a
resemblance which plainly intimates from whence they
came, are yet debased, mutilated, and by some hardly
known. But who, that had seen a human body sacri-
ficed at Otaheite to their god of war, w^ould not per-
ceive an analogy to ancient custom on those occasions,
and attribute it rather to such custom, than to any
other cause whatever. And the custom is not con-
fined to Otaheite alone ; it pervades the islands
throughout the Pacific ocean. It was the case with
the ancient Britons. The Mexicans depopulated
society by this carnivorous species of sacrifice. This
could not be the effect of accident, want, or caprice.
It may be worthy of notice to remark furthermore,
that in the time of Ahaz, these sacrifices were
made in high places. It was so in Mexico, and is so
at Otaheite and other islands. The Mexicans flung
their victims from the top of their temple, dedicated
to their god of war. The Otaheitans and the other
islanders prepare those oblations on their Morals."

78 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

Captain Cook remained a few days only at Nootka
Sound, and then sailed northward coasting along the
American shore, and making various geographical dis-
coveries till he came to Bering's Strait, which sepa-
rates Asia from America. In passing through this
Strait, Ledyard says both continents were distinctly
seen at the same time. Cook traversed the polar
seas in the month of August, as far north as the ice
would permit, in search of a northwest passage, but
without success. As the season advanced, he returned
to the south, intending to renew his attempts the next
year.

Few occurrences are recorded in the voyage back
to the Sandwich Islands. There is one, however,
which merits particular attention in this narrative,
since our hero was the chief actor. The adventure
is mentioned in Cook's Voyages, and by Captain
Burney, as highly creditable to the enterprise and dis-
creticui of Ledyard. It happened at the island of
Onalaska, on the Northwest Coast. Ledyard himself
wrote a particular description of it, which hardly
admits of abridgment, and which may best be given,
therefore, in his own words.

" I have before observed, that we had noticed many
appearances to the eastward of this, as far almost as
Sandwich Sound, of an European intercourse, and
that we had at this island in particular met with cir-
cumstances, that did not only indicate such an inter-
course, but seemed strongly to intimate, that some
Europeans were actually somewhere on the spot. The
appearances that led to these conjectures were such
as these. We found among the inhabitants of this

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 79

island two different kinds of people, the one we knew
to be the aborigines of America, while we supposed
the others to have come from the opposite coasts of
Asia. There were two different dialects also ob-
served, and we found them fond of tobacco, rum, and
snuff. Tobacco we even found them possessed of,
and we observed several blue linen shirts and drawers
among them. But the most remarkable circumstance
was a cake of rye meal newly baked, with a piece of
salmon in it, seasoned with pepper and salt, which
was brought and presented to Cook by a comely
young chief, attended by two of those Indians, whom
we supposed to be Asiatics. The chief seemed
anxious to explain to Cook the meaning of the pre-
sent, and the purport of his visit ; and he was so far
successful as to persuade him, that there were some
strangers in the country, who were white, and had
come over the great waters in a vessel somewhat like
ours, and though not so large, was yet much larger
than theirs.

" In consequence of this. Cook was determined to
explore the island. It was difficult, however, to fix
upon a plan, that would at once answer the purposes
of safety and expedition. An armed body would
proceed slowly, and if they should be cut off by the
Indians, the loss in our present circumstances would
be irreparable ; and a single person would entirely risk
his life, though he would be much more expeditious if
unmolested, and if he should be killed the loss would
be only one. The latter seemed the best, but it was
extremely hard to single out an individual, and com-
mand him to go upon such an expedition ; and it was

80 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

therefore thought proper to send a volunteer, or none.
I was at this time, and indeed ever after, an intimate
friend of John Gore, first lieutenant of the Resolution,
a native of America as well as myself, and superior to
me in command. He recommended me to Captain
Cook to undertake the expedition, with which I im-
mediately acquiesced.* Captain Cook assured me.

* The following biographical sketch has been furnished from a
source which gives it a claim to confidence.

Captain John Gore was born about the year 1730, in the Colony of
Virginia. It may be reasonably inferred, that he was brought up to the
sea, as he served a long time on board the Windsor man-of-war, during
the contest which preceded the American Revolution. In the suc-
cessive voyages of the Dolphin, under Byron and Wallis, he served as
a master's mate, and on his return to England with the latter, was
promoted to a lieutenancy. The Endeavour was then preparing for a
similar expedition, and having beon appointed her second lieutenant,
he accompanied Captain Cook in his first voyage round the world. In
the following year, 1772, he was appointed to the command of a mer-
chant-ship, which had been engaged by Sir Joseph Banks for the pur-
pose of visiting Iceland and the Hebrides ; and did not return again
until after the departure of the Resolution and Adventure.

In the last voyage of Captain Cook, he served as first lieutenant of
the Resolution, and on the death of the navigator, and of Captain
Gierke, he respectively succeeded to the captaincy of the Discovery
and to the chief command. On his arrival in England, he was imme-
diately promoted to the rank of Post Captain, and shortly after to the
station in Greenwich Hospital, which was to have been resumed by
Captain Cook, in the event of his having returned. He remained in
this honorable retirement till his death, which is recorded in a publica-
tion of the time, in the foUov/ing words.

" August 10, 1790 — At his apartments in Greenwich Hospital, sin-
cerely regretted by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. Cap-
tain John Gore, one of the Captains of Greenwich Hospital, a most
experienced seaman, and an honor to his profession. He had sailed
four times round the world ; first with Commodore Byron ; secondly,
with Captain Wallis, and the two last times with Captain James
Cook."

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 81

that he was happy I had undertaken it, as he was
convinced I should persevere ; and after giving me
some instructions how to proceed, he wished me well,
and desired I would not be longer absent than a week
if possible, at the expiration of which he should ex-
pect me to return. If I did not return by that time,
he should wait another week for me, and no longer.
The young chief before-mentioned, and his two at-
tendants, were to be my guides. I took with me
some presents adapted to the taste of the Indians,
brandy in bottles, and bread, but no other provisions.
I went entirely unarmed, by the advice of Captain
Cook. The first day we proceeded about fifteen
miles into the interior part of the island, without any
remarkable occurrence, until we approached a village
just before night. This village consisted of about
thirty huts, some of them large and spacious, though
not very high. The huts are composed of a kind of
slight frame, erected over a square hole sunk about
four feet into the ground ; the frame is covered at the
bottom with turf, and upwards it is thatched with

In the theoretical attainments of his profession, Captain Gore may
have been equalled by many, but as a practical navigator he was
surpassed by none. As an officer, he appears to have blended a proper
degree of prudence with the most unshaken intrepidity ; and his illus-
trious commander declares, that he ever reposed the fullest confidence
in his diligence and ability. In his disposition he was benevolent ; and
his generosity (as is remarked by Captain King) was manifested on all
occasions. But the character of a " very worthy man," ascribed to
him by Van Troil, in his letters on Iceland, will comprise the enumera-
tion of his virtues.

Of his particular kindness and attention to his countrymen, we
have a striking proof in the case of Ledyard.
11

82 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

coarse grass ; the whole village was out to see us, and
men, women, and children crowded about me. I was
conducted by the young chief, who was my guide,
and seemed proud and assiduous to serve me, into one
of the largest huts. I was surprised at the behavior
of the Indians, for though they were curious to see
me, yet they did not express that extraordinary curi-
osity, that would be expected had they never seen an
European before, and 1 was glad to perceive it, as it
was an evidence in favor of what I wished to find
true, namely, that there were Europeans now among
them. The women of the house, which were almost the
only ones I had seen at this island, were much more
tolerable, than I expected to find them ; one, in par-
ticular, seemed very busy to please me ; to her, there-
fore, I made several presents, with which she was
extremely well pleased. As it was now dark, my
young chief intimated to me, that we must tarry
where we were that night, and proceed further the
next day ; to which I very readily consented, being
much fatigued. Our entertainment, the subsequent
part of the evening, did not consist of delicacies or
much variety ; they had dried fish, and I had bread
and spirits, of which we all participated. Ceremony
was not invited to the feast, and nature presided over
the entertainment.

" At daylight Perpheela (which was the name of the
young chief that was my guide) let me know that he
was ready to go on ; upon which 1 flung off the skins
I had slept in, put on my shoes and outside vest, and
arose to accompany him, repeating my presents to my
friendly hosts. We had hitherto travelled in a north-

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 83

eriy direction, but now went to the westward and
southward, I was now so much relieved from the
apprehension of any insult or injury from the Indians,
that rny journey would have been even agreeable, had I
not been taken lame, with a swelling in the feet, which
rendered it extremely painful to walk ; the country
was also rough and hilly, and the weather wet and
cold. About three hours before dark we came to a
large bay, which appeared to be four leagues over.
Here my guide, Perpheela, took a canoe and all our
baggage, and set off, seemingly to cross the bay. He
appeared to leave me in an abrupt manner, and told
me to follow the two attendants. This gave me some
uneasiness. I now followed Perpheela's two attend-
ants, keeping the bay in view, but we had not gone
above six miles before we saw a canoe approaching us
from the opposite side of the bay, in which were two
Indians ; as soon as my guides saw the canoe, we ran
to the shore from the hills and hailed them, and find-
ing they did not hear us, we got some bushes and
waved them in the air, which they saw, and stood
directly for us. This canoe was sent by Perpheela to
bring me across the bay, and shorten the distance of
the journey.

" It was beginning to be dark when the canoe came
to us. It was a skin canoe, after the Esquimaux plan,
with two holes to accommodate two sitters. The
Indians that came in the canoe talked a little with my
two guides, and then came to me and desired I would
get into the canoe. This I did not very readily agree
to, however, as there was no other place for me but to
be thrust into the space between the holes, extended

84 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

at length upon my back, and wholly excluded from
seeing the way I went, or the power of extricating
myself upon any emergency. But as there was no
alternative, I submitted thus to be stowed away in
bulk, and went head foremost very swift through the
water about an hour, when I felt the canoe strike a
beach, and afterwards lifted up and carried some dis-
tance, and then set down again ; after which I was
drawn out by the shoulders by three or four men, for
it was now so dark that I could not tell who they were,
though I was conscious I heard a language that was
new. I was conducted by two of these persons, who
appeared to be strangers, about forty rods, when I saw
lights and a number of huts like those I left in the
morning. As we approached one of them, a door
opened, and discovered a lamp, by which, to my joy
and surprise, I discovered that the two men, who held
me by each arm, were Europeans, fair and comely,
and concluded from their appearance they were Rus-
sians, which I soon after found to be true. As we
entered the hut, which was particularly long, I saw,
arranged on each side, on a platform of plank, a
number of Indians, who all bowed to me ; and as I
advanced to the farther end of the hut, there were
other Russians. When I reached the end of the
room, I was seated on a bench covered with fur skins,
and as 1 was much fatigued, wet, and cold, I had a
change of garments brought me, consisting of a blue
silk shirt and drawers, a fur cap, boots, and gown, all
which I put on with the same cheerfulness they were
presented with. Hospitality is a virtue peculiar to
man, and the obligation is as great to receive as to

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 6b

confer. As soon as I was rendered warm and com-
fortable, a table was set before me with a lamp upon
it ; all the Russians in the house sat down round me,
and the bottles of spirits, tobacco, snuff, and whatever
Perpheela had, were brought and set upon it ; these I
presented to the company, intimating that they were
presents from Commodore Cook, who was an Eng-
lishman. One of the company then gave me to
understand, that all the white people I saw there were
subjects of the Empress Catherine of Russia, and
rose and kissed my hand, the rest uncovering their
heads. 1 then informed them as well as I could, that
Commodore Cook wanted to see some of them, and
had sent me there to conduct them to our ships.

These preliminaries over, we had supper, which con-
sisted of boiled whale, halibut fried in oil, and broiled
salmon. The latter I ate, and they gave me rye-bread,
but would eat none of it themselves. They were very-
fond of the rum, which they drank without any mixture
or measure. I had a very comfortable bed composed
of different fur skins, both under and over me, and
being harassed the preceding day, I went soon to rest.
After 1 had lain down, the Russians assembled the
Indians in a very silent manner, and said prayers after
the manner of the Greek church, which is much
like the Roman. 1 could not but observe with what
particular satisfaction the Indians performed theii' de-
voirs to God, through the medium of their little cru-
cifixes, and with what pleasure they went through the
multitude of ceremonies attendant on that sort of
w^orship. I think it a religion the best calculated in
the world to gain proselytes, when the people are either

86 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

unwilling or unable to speculate, or when they cannot
be made acquainted with the history and principles of
Christianity without a formal education.

" I had a very comfortable night's rest, and did not
wake the next morning until late. As soon as I was
up, I was conducted to a hut at a little distance from
the one I had slept in, where I saw a number of plat-
forms raised about three feet from the ground, and
covered with dry coarse grass and some small green
bushes. There were several of the Russians already
here, besides those that conducted me, and several
Indians who were heating water in a large copper
caldron over a furnace, the heat of which, and the
steam which evaporated from the hot water, rendered
the hut, which was very tight, extremely hot and suf-
focating. I soon understood this was a hot bath, of
which I was asked to make use in a friendly manner.
The apparatus being a little curious, I consented to it,
but before I had finished undressing myself, I was
overcome by the sudden change of the air, fainted
away, and fell back on the platform I was sitting on.
I was, however, soon relieved by having cold and
lukewarm water administered to my face and different
parts of my body. I finished undressing, and pro-
ceeded as I saw the rest do, who were now all un-
dressed. The Indians, who served us, brought us, as
we set or extended ourselves on the platforms, water
of different temperatures, from that which was as hot
as we could bear, to quite cold. The hot water was
accompanied with some hard soap and a flesh-brush ;
it was not however thrown on the body from the dish,
but sprinkled on with the green bushes. After this,

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 87

the water made use of was less warm, and by several
gradations became at last quite cold, which concluded
the ceremony. We again dressed and returned to our
lodgings, where our breakfast was smoking on the
table ; but the flavor of our feast, as well as its appear-
ance, had nearly produced a relapse in my spirits, and
no doubt would, if I had not had recourse to some of
the brandy I had brought, which happily saved me.
I was a good deal uneasy, lest the cause of my dis-
composure should disoblige my friends, who meant to
treat me in the best manner they could. 1 therefore
attributed my illness to the bath, which might possibly
have partly occasioned it, for I am not very subject to
fainting. I could eat none of the breakfast, however,
though far from wanting an appetite. It was mostly
of whale, sea-horse, and bear, which, though smoked,
dried, and boiled, produced a composition of smells
very offensive at nine or ten in the morning. I there-
fore desired I might have a piece of smoked salmon
broiled dry, which I ate with some of my own biscuit.
" After breakfast I intended to set off on my return
to the ships, though there came on a disagreeable snow
storm. But my new-found friends objected to it, and
gave me to understand, that I should go the next day,
and, if I chose, three of them would accompany me.
This I immediately agreed to, as it anticipated a favor
I intended to ask them, though I before much doubted
whether they would comply with it. I amused my-
self within doors, while it snowed without, by writing
down a few words of the original languages of the
American Indians, and of the Asiatics, who came over
to this coast with these Russians from Kamtschatka.

88 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

" In the afternoon the weather cleared up, and I
went out to see how those Russian adventurers were
situated. I found tiie whole village to contain about
thirty huts, all of which were built partly under
ground, and covered with turf at the bottom, and
coarse grass at the top. The only circumstance that
can recommend them is their warmth, which is occa-
sioned partly by their manner of construction, and
partly by a kind of oven, in which they constantly
keep a fire night and day. They sleep on platforms
built on each side of the hut, on which they have a
number of bear and other skins, which render them
comfortable ; and as they have been educated in a
hardy manner, they need little or no other support,
than what they procure from the sea and from hunt-
ing. The number of Russians were about thirty, and
they had with them about seventy Kamtschadales, or
Indians from Kamtschatka. These, with some of the
American Indians, whom they had entered into friend-
ship with, occupied the village, enjoyed every benefit
in common with the Russians, and were converts to
their religion. Such other of the aborigines of the
island, as had not become converts to their sentiments
in religious and civil matters, were excluded from such
privileges, and were prohibited from wearing certain
arms.

I also found a small sloop of about thirty tons bur-
then lying in a cove behind the village, and a hut near
her, containing her sails, cordage, and other sea equip-
age, and one old iron three pounder. It is natural to
an ingenuous mind, when it enters a town, a house, or
ship, that has been rendered famous by any particular

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 89

event, to feel the full force of that pleasure, which re-
sults from gratiijing a noble curiosity. 1 was no sooner
informed, that this sloop was the same in which the
famous Bering had performed those discoveries, which
did him so much honor, and his country such great
sei' ice, than I was determined to go on board of her,
and indulge the generous feelings the occasion in-
spired. I intimated my wishes to the man that
accompanied me, who went back to the village, and
brought a canoe, in which we went on board, where I
remained about an hour, and then returned. This
little bark belonged to Kamtschatka, and came from
thence with the Asiatics already mentioned to this
island, which they call Onalaska, in order to estab-
lish a pelt and fur factory. They had been here
about five years, and go over to Kamtschatka in her
once a year to deliver their merchandise, and get a
recruit of such supplies as they need from the chief
factory there, of which I shall take further notice
hereafter.

" The next day I set off from this village, well satis-
fied with the happy issue of a tour, which was now
as agreeable as it was at first undesirable. I was ac-
companied by three of the principal Russians, and
some attendants. We embarked at the village in a
large skin boat, much like our large whale-boats, row-
ing with twelve oars ; and as we struck directly across
the bay, we shortened our distance several miles, and
the next day, passing the same village I had before
been at, we arrived by sunset at the bay where the
ships lay, and before dark I got on board with our new
acquaintances. The satisfaction this discovery gave
12

90 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

Cook, and the honor that redounded to me, may be
easily imagined, and the several conjectures respecting
the appearance of a foreign intercourse were rectified
and confirmed."

Such other researches, as could be pursued at that
season, having been made at Onalaska, and along the
coast. Cook left the continent and shaped his course
for the Sandwich Islands. Two months' sailing
brought him in view of one of the group, not discov-
ered on his voyage to the north, called by the natives
Owhyhee, or Hawyhee, as Ledyard writes it, or
Hawaii, according to the modern orthography of the
missionaries.* As our traveller is more minute in his
description of the events that happened at this island,
and particularly in his account of the death of Caj)tain
Cook, than most narrators, and as he describes only
what came within his own knowledge, it may be
worth while to dwell a little upon these topics.

* It is to be observed, that the sound expressed by Ledyard's ortho-
graphy, and that of the missionaries, is exactly tlie same, he preserving
the English sounds of the vowels, and they adopting the Italian.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 91

CHAPTER V.

The ships anchored in Kearakekua bay. — First interview with the natives. —
Reverence with which they regarded Cook. — Tents erected for astronomical
observations. — Ceremonies at the meeting of Cook with the old king. —
Ledyard forms the project of ascending the high mountain in Hawaii,
called by the natives Mouna Roa — Description of his ascent, and cause
of his ultimate failure. — The natives begin to show symptoms of uneasi-
ness at the presence of the strangers, and to treat them with disrespect. —
Offended at the encroachment made on their Moral. — Cook departs
from Kearakekua bay, but is compelled to return by a heavy storm, that
overtakes him, and injures his ships. — Natives receive him coldly. — They
steal one of the ship's boats, which Cook endeavors to recover. — Goes on
shore for the purpose. — Is there attacked by the natives and slain. — Ledyard
accompanied him on shore, and was near his person when killed. — His de-
scription of the event. — Expedition sails for Kamtschatka, explores again the
Polar seas, and returns to England. — Ledyard's opinions respecting the first
peopling of the South Sea Islands. — Other remarks relating to this subject,
founded on the analogy of languages, and manners of the people. — Character-
istics of Ledyard's journal. — Estimation in which he held Captain Cook.

The ships 'v^^ere several days among the islands,
sailino; in different directions, before a harbor was dis-
covered, in vi'hich they could anchor with safety, and
where water and provisions could be procured. At
length they entered a commodious bay on the south
side of Hawaii, extending inland about two miles
and a half, having the town of Kearakekua on one
side, and Kiverua on the other. These towns con-
tained fourteen hundred houses. The crowds of
people that flocked to the shore, as the vessels sailed
in and came to anchor, were prodigious. They had
assembled from the interior and the coast. Three
thousand canoes were counted in the bay, filled with
men, women, and children, to the number of at least

92 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

fifteen thousand, besides others that were swimming
and sustaining themselves on floats in the water. The
scene was animated and grotesque in the extreme.
" The beach, the surrounding rocks, the tops of
houses, the branches of trees, and the adjacent hills
were all covered ; and the shouts of joy and admiration,
proceeding from the sonorous voices of the men, con-
fused with the shriller exclamations of the women
dancing and clapping their hands, the oversetting of
canoes, cries of the children, goods afloat, and hogs
that were brought to market squealing, formed one of
the most curious prospects, that can be imagined."
But amidst this immense concourse, all was peace,
harmony, hilarity, and good nature. Many of the
natives were contented to gaze and wonder ; others, by
their noise and actions, gave more imposing demon-
strations of their joy and admiration ; while others
were busy in bartering away hogs, sweet potatoes,
and such provisions as they had, for articles that
pleased their fancy.

Cook's first visit to the shore was attended with a
good deal of ceremony. Two chiefs, with long white
poles as ensigns of their authority, made a passage
among the canoes for his pinnace, and the people,
as he was rowed along, covered their faces with their
hands. When he landed, they fell prostrate en the
beach before him, and a new set of officers opened a
way for him through the crowd. The same expres-
sions of awe were manifested, as he proceeded from
the water's edge. " The people upon the adjacent
hills, upon the houses, on the stone walls, and in the
tops of the trees, also hid their faces, while he passed

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 93

along the opening, but he had no sooner past them,
than they rose and followed him. But if Cook hap-
pened to turn his head, or look behind him, they were
down again in an instant, and up again as soon, when-
ever his face was reverted to some other quarter.
This punctilious performance of respect in so vast a
throng, being regulated solely by the accidental torn
of one man's head, and the transition being sudden
and short, rendered it very difficult even for an indivi-
dual to be in proper attitude. If he lay prostrate hot
a second too long, he was pretty sure not to rise again
until he had been trampled upon by all behind him,
and if he dared not to prostrate himself, he ivould
stumble over those before him who did. This pro-
duced a great many laughable circumstances, and as
Cook walked very fast to get from the sand into
the shades of the town, it rendered the matter still
more difficult. At length, however, they adopted a
a medium, that much better answered a running com-
pliment, and did not displease the chiefs ; this was to
go upon all fours, which was truly ludicrous among at
least ten thousand people." This confusion ceased,
however, before long, for Cook was conducted to the
Morai, a sacred enclosure, which none but the chiefs
and their attendants were allowed to enter. Here he
was unmolested, and the presents were distributed.

His first object w^as to procure a situation on shore
to erect tents, and fit up the astronomical instruments.
A suitable spot was granted, on condition that none of
the seamen should leave the place after sunset, and
with a stipulation on the part of the chiefs, that none
of their people should enter it by night. To make

94 LIFE OF JOHN LEDTARD.

this effectual, the ground was marked out bj white
rods, and put under the restriction of the lahu, which
no native dared violate, being restrained by the super-
stitious fear of offending the atuas, or invisible spirits
of the island. This caution surprised Cook a little,
as he had not witnessed it among the natives of the
other South Sea Islasjds. It appeared reasonable, and
he consented to it, not foreseeing the mischiefs to
which it would ultimately lead. Ledjard considers it
the origin of all the disasters that followed. Restric-
tions were imposed, which could not be enforced ;
thej were violated secretly at first, then with less re-
serve, and at last openly. The men in the tents were
the first to transgress, by going abroad contrary to the
agreement. The native wonien were tempted by
them to pass over the prescribed limits, although they
shuddered at the apprehension of the consequences,
which might follow such a disregard ol the tabu.
When they found, however, that no harm came upon
them from the enraged atuas, their fears by degrees
subsided. This intercourse was not such, as to raise
the Europeans in the estimation of the islanders. It
was begun by stealth, and prosecuted in violation of
the sacred injunction of the tabu, and as no measures
were taken to prevent it, the chiefs naturally consid-
ered it an infraction of the agreement. Ledyard was
himself stationed on shore with a guard of marines to
protect the tents, and enjoyed the best opportunity for
seeing and knowing what passed in that quarter.

Harmony, and a good understanding among all
parties, prevailed for several days. Cook went
through the ceremony of being anointed with cocoa-

LIfE OF JOHN LEDYABD. 95

nut oil by one of the chief priests, and of listening; to
a speech half an hour in length, on the occasion,
from the same high dignitary. When Teraiobu, the
king, a feeble old man. returned from one of the other
islands, where he had been on a visit, there was another
ceremony, conducted with great form, at his meeting
with Cook. Entertainments succeeded, and good
cheer and good humor were seen everywhere. Cook
first invited Teraiobu and his chiefs on board to dinner.
They were temperate, drinking water only, and eating
but little. The old king satisfied himself entirely
with bread-fruit and water, but the yoimger chiefs
comprised in their repast the luxury of pork and fowls.
They all went away well pleased, and the king invited
Cook to dine with him the next day at his royal resi-
dence. The invitation was accepted ; and when the
hour came, the navigator and his officers were sump-
tuously feasted on baked hog and potatoes, neatly
spiead out on green plantain leaves, and for beverage
they were supplied with cocoanut milk. The day
was closed with gymnastic exercises, wrestling and
boxing, ordered by the old king for the amusement of
his guests. On the next evening Cook in his turn
exhibited fireworks on shore, much to the amazement
of the beholders, who had never before seen such a
display. Many laughable incidents occurred. When
the first sky-rocket was discharged, the multitude was
seized with the greatest consternation. Cook and his
officers " could hardly hold the old feeble Teraiobu,
and some elderly ladies of quality that sat among
them ; and before they had recovered from this parox-
ysm, nearly the whole host, that a moment before

96 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

surroimded them, had fled." Some were too much
fi-ighteiied to return any more, but others came back
as their fears abated, and had the courage to keep
their 2;round through the remainder of the exhibition.

Thus all things were pro* eeding, as Ledyard ex-
presses it, " in the old Otaheite style ; " the visiters
and the islanders were mutually pleased with each
other, kind offices were reciprocated, abundant stores
of provisions were carried on board, and prospects
were favorable.

While affairs were in this train, Ledyard formed the
design of ascending the high peak, which rises from
the centre of the island, and is called by the natives
Mouna Roa. Although this mountain stands on an
island only ninety miles in diameter, yet it is one of
the highest in the world. Its elevation has been esti-
mated to be about eighteen thousand feet, and its
sumniit is usually covered with snow. From his sta-
tion at the tents, Ledyard sent a note on board the
Resolution to Captain Cook, asking permission to
make this jaunt, for the double purpose of exploring
the interior, and, if possible, climbing to the top of the
imountain. The request was granted. The botanist,
and the gunner of the Resolution, were deputed by
the commander to accompany him. Natives were
also engaged to carry the baggage, and serve as guides
through the woods. A tropical sun was then pouring
its rays on them at the bay of Kearakekua, but the
snows visible on the peak of Mouna Roa warned
them to provide additional clothing, and guard against
the effects of a sudden transition from heat to cold.
The party at length set off. On first leaving the town

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 97

their route lay through enclosed plantations of sweet
potatoes, with a soil of lava, tilled in some places with
difficulty. Now and then a patch of sugar-cane was
seen in a moist place. Next came the open planta-
tions, consisting chiefly of bread-fruit trees, and the
land began to ascend more abruptly.

" We continued up the ascent," he writes, " to the
distance of a mile and a half further, and found the land
thick covered with wild fern, among which our botanist
found a new species. It was now near sunset, and
being upon the skirts of these woods, that so remark-
ably surrounded this island at a uniform distance of
four our five miles from the shore, we concluded to
halt, especially as there was a hut hard by, that would
afford us a better retreat during the night, than what
we might expect if we proceeded. When we reached
the hut, we found it inhabited by an elderly man, his
wife, and daughter, the emblem of innocent, unin-
structed beauty. They were somewhat discomposed
at our appearance and equipment, and would have left
their house through fear, had not the Indians, who
accompanied us, persuaded them otherwise, and at
last reconciled them to us. We sat down together
before the door, and from the height of the situation
we had a complete retrospective view of our route, of
the town, of part of the bay, and one of our ships,
besides an extensive prospect on the ocean, and a dis-
tant view of three of the neighboring islands.

" As we had proposed remaining at this hut through
the night, and were willing to preserve what provi-
sions we had ready dressed, we purchased a little pig,
and had him dressed by our host, who, finding his ac-
13

98 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

count in his visitants, bestirred himself and soon had
it ready. After supper we had some of our brandy
dikited with the mountain water, and we had so long
been confined to the poor brackish water at the bay
below, that it was a kind of nectar to us. As soon
as the sun was set, we found a considerable difference
in the state of the air. At night a heavy dew fell,
and we felt it very chilly, and had recourse to our
blankets, notwithstanding we were in the hut. The
next morning, when we came to enter the woods, we
found there had been a heavy rain, though none of it
had approached us, notwithstanding we were within
two hundred yards of the skirts of the forest. And it
seemed to be a matter of fact, both from the informa-
tion of the natives and our own observations, that
neither the rains nor the dews descended lower than
where the woods terminated, unless at the equinoxes
or some periodical conjuncture, by which means the
space between the woods and the shore is rendered
warm, and fit for the purposes of culture, and the
vegetation of tropical productions. We traversed
these woods by a compass, keeping a direct course for
the peak, and was so happy the first day as to find a
footpath that tended nearly our due course, by which
means we travelled by estimation about fifteen miles,
and though it would have been no extraordinary march,
had circumstances been different, yet, as we found
them, we thought it a very great one ; for it was not only
excessively miry and rough, but the way was mostly an
ascent, and we had been unused to walking, and espe-
cially to carrying such loads as we had. Our Indian
companions were much more fatigued than we were.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD, 99

though they had nothing to carry, and, what displeased
us very much, would not carry anything. Our botanical
researches delayed us somewhat. The sun had not
set when we halted, yet meeting" with a situation that
pleased us, and not being limited as to time, we spent
the remaining part of the day as humor dictated, some
in botanizing, and those who had fowling-pieces with
them in shooting. For my part I could not but think
the present appearance of our encampment claimed a
part of our attention, and therefore set about some
alterations and amendments. It was the trunk of a
tree, that had fallen by the side of the path, and lay
with one end transversely over another tree, that had
fallen before in an opposite direction, and as it mea-
sured twentytwo feet in circumference, and lay four
feet from the ground, it afforded very good shelter
except at the sides, which defect I supplied by large
pieces of bark, and a good quantity of boughs, which
rendered it very commodious. We slept through the
night under it much better than we had done the pre-
ceding, notwithstanding there was a heavy dew, and
the air cold.

"The next morning we set out in good spirits,
hoping that day to reach the snowy peak ; but we
had not gone a mile, before the path, that had
hitherto so much facilitated our progress, began not
only to take a direction southward of west, but had
been so little frequented as to be almost effaced. In
this situation we consulted our Indian convoy, but to
no purpose. We then advised among ourselves, and
at length concluded to proceed by the nearest route
without any beaten track, and went in this manner

100 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

about four miles further, finding the way even more
steep and rough, than we had yet experienced, but
above all impeded by such impenetrable thickets, as
rendered it impossible for us to proceed any further.
We therefore abandoned our design, and returning in
our own track, reached the retreat we had improved the
last night, having been the whole day in walking only
about ten miles, and we had been very assiduous too.
We found the country here, as well as at the seashore,
universally overspread with lava, and also saw several
subterranean excavations, that had every appearance of
past eruption and fire. Our botanist to day met with
great success, and we had also shot a number of fine
birds of the liveliest and most variegated plumage,
that any of us had ever met with, but we heard no
melody among them. Except these we saw no other
kind of birds but the screechowl ; neither did we see
any kind of quadruped, but we caught several curious
insects. The woods here are thick and luxuriant, the
largest trees being nearly thirty feet in the girth, and
these with the shrubbery underneath, and the whole
intersected with vines, render it very umbrageous.

" The next day, about two in the afternoon, we
cleared the woods by our old route, and by six o'clock
reached the tents, having penetrated about twentyfour
miles, and, we supposed, within eleven of the peak.
Our Indians were extremely fatigued, though they had
no baggage." *

* This mountain was never ascended to the top, till very recent-
ly. Mr Goodrich, one of the American Missionarioe on the island,
was the first person, who persevered in reaching the summit. He
ascended on a side of the mountain nearly opposite to that, where
Ledyard made the attempt.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 101

Were we to follow the author closely m his narra-
tive, we should here introduce his description of the
island of Hawaii, and of the various objects that at-
tracted his notice. He speaks of the geological struc- J
ture of the island, its soil, productions, climate, and
animals ; the customs of the natives, their supersti-
tions, government, and criminal offences ; their way
of living, and the remarkable differences between
them and the other islanders of the South Sea. On
some of these topics his remarks are original and
striking, but we must pass over them, and hasten to
particulars of higher interest.

Before two weeks had expired, the natives began to
show symptoms of uneasiness at the presence of the
foreigners, and to treat them with diminished respect.
In truth, very little pains were taken to preserve
their good opinion, or to keep alive their kind feelings ;
and one untoward event after another was perpetually
occurring to lessen the admiration, which novelty had
excited, and to alienate them from their newly made
friends. Ledyard mentions several incidents of this
description, which are not alluded to in the authorized
account of Cook's last voyage. Some of them,
probably, were not known to the writer, and others
were omitted from motives of policy, as being rather
evidences of neglect or injudicious management, than
of cautious or discreet measures. The natives first
began to practise slight insults, which seemed to pro-
ceed rather from a mischievous, than a malignant
temper. The master's mate was ordered to take on
board the rudder of the Resolution, which had been
sent ashore for repairs. It was too heavy for his men

102 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

to remove, and he asked the natives to assist them.
Fifty or sixty immediately caught hold of the rope
attached to the rudder, and began to pull. But
whether in sport, or by design, they caused only em-
barrassment and disorder. " This exasperated the
mate, and he struck tvi^o or three of them, vi^hich being
observed by a chief that was present, he interposed.
The mate haughtily told the chief to order his people
to assist him, and the chief as well as the people hav-
ing no intention, but of showing their disregard and
scorn, which had long been growing towards us,
laughed at him, hooted him, and threw stones at him
and the crew, who taking up some trunnels that were
lying by, fell upon the Indians, beat many of them
much, and drove the rest several rods back ; but the
crowd collecting at a little distance, formed, and began
to use abusive language, challenge our people and
throw stones, some of which came into our encamp-
ment." Ledyard's guard of marines was ordered out,
*' at least to make a show of resentment," and the
commanding officer at the tents went out himself to
quell the disturbance ; but they were all pelted with
stones, and retired, leaving the field to the natives till
night, when the rudder was taken on board.

" Instances of this kind, though of less apparent
importance, had happened several times before this on
shore ; but on board hardly a day passed after the first
week, that did not produce some petty disturbance in
one or both of the ships, and they chiefly proceeded
from thefts perpetrated by the natives in a manner
little short of robbery. Cook and Teraiobu were fully
employed in adjusting and compromising these differ-

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 103

ences, and as there was really a reciprocal disinterested
regard between him and this good old man, it tended
much to facilitate these amicable negotiations. But
in the midst of these measures, Cook was insensible
of the daily decline of his greatness and importance
in the estimation of the natives ; nay, so confident was
he, and so secure in the opposite opinion, that on the
fourth of February he came to Kearakekua, with his
boats, to purchase and carry off the fence round the
Morai, which he wanted to wood the ships with.
When he landed, he sent for the Priest Kikinny, and
some other chiefs, and offered them two iron hatchets
for the fence. The chiefs were astonished, not only at
the inadequate price, but at the proposal, and refused
him.

" Cook was as much chagrined as they were sur-
prised, and, not meeting with the easy acquiescence
he expected to his requisitions, gave immediate orders
to his people to ascend the Morai, break down the
fence and load the boats with it, leading the way him-
self to enforce his orders. The poor dismayed chiefs,
dreading his displeasure, which they saw approaching,
followed him upon the Morai to behold the fence that
enclosed the mansions of their noble ancestors, and
the images of their gods, torn to pieces by a handful
of rude strangers, without the power, or at least
without the resolution, of opposing their sacrilegious
depredations. When Cook had ascended the Morai,
he once more offered the hatchets to the chiefs. It
was a very unequal price, if the honest chiefs would
have accepted of the bribe ; and Cook offered it only
to evade the imputation of taking their property with-

104 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

out payment. The chiefs again refused it. Cook
then added another hatchet, and, kindling into resent-
ment, told them to take it or nothing. Kikinny, to
whom the offer was made, turned pale, and trembled
as he stood, but still refused. Cook thrust them into
his garment, that was folded round him, and left him
immediately to hasten the execution of his orders.
As for Kikinny, he turned to some of his menials, and
made them take the hatchets out of his garment, not
touching them himself. By this time a considerable
concourse of the natives had assembled under the
walls of the Morai, where we were throwing the wood
down, and were very outrageous, and even threw the
wood and images back as we threw them down ; and
I cannot think what prevented them from proceeding
to greater lengths ; however, it so happened that we
got the whole into the boats, and safely on board."

This story is told differently by Captain King, who
wrote that part of Cook's Third Voyage, which relates
to the Sandwich Islands. As he represents it, no ob-
jection was made to the proposal for taking away the
enclosure of wood, that surrounded the Morai, and even
the images were tumbled down and carried off, under
the eyes of the priests, without any resistance or dis-
approbation on their part. This would seem improba-
ble. The Morai was the depositary of the dead, a
place where the images of the gods were kept, and
solemn ceremonies performed. It is not easy to re-
concile the two accounts, but Ledyard was employed
with others in removing the fence, and he manifestly
describes what he saw. He may not have been so
well acquainted with the manner and conditions of

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD., 105

the purchase, as Captain King, yet in the detail of
occurrences in which he was engaged, and their
effects on the people around him, it is hardly possible
that he should have been mistaken. Again, he writes,

" On the evening of the fifth we struck our tents,
and everything was taken on board, and it was mani-
festly much to the satisfaction of the natives. A
little after dark an old house, that stood on a corner
of the Moral, took fire and burnt down ; this we sup-
posed was occasioned by our people's carelessly leav-
ing their fire near it, but this was not the case. The
natives burnt it themselves, to show us the resentment
they entertained towards us, on account of our using
it without their consent, and indeed manifestly against
it. We had made a sail-loft of one part of it, and an
hospital for our sick of the other, though it evidently
was esteemed by the natives as holy as the rest of the
Moral, and ought to have been considered so by us."

They bad now been nineteen days in Kearakekua
bay ; the ships had been repaired, the seamen re-
cruited after their long toils, provisions for several
months laid in, and nothing more was wanting to ena-
ble them to go again to sea, but a supply of water.
This was not to be had at Kearakekua, except of a
brackish quality, and it was resolved to search for it
on some of the other islands. For this object the
vessels were unmoored, and sailed out of the har-
bor. No sooner had they got to sea, than a violent
gale came on, which lasted three days and injured so
seriously the Resolution's foremast, that Cook was
compelled to return speedily to his old anchorage
ground and make repairs. Our voyager is so circum-
14

106' LIFE OF JOHN LEDVARD.

stantial in his account from this point, till the tragical
death of Captain Cook, that I shall not mar his narra-
tive by curtailing it. The only thing necessary to be
premised is, that he was one of the small party, who
landed with the unfortunate navigator on the morning
of his death, and was near him during the fatal con-
test, although this does not appear from his own state-
ment.

" Our return to this bay was as disagreeable to us,
as it was to the inhabitants, for we were reciprocally
tired of each other. They had been oppressed, and
were weary of our prostituted alliance, and we were
aggrieved by the consideration of wanting the provi-
sions and refreshments of the country, which w^e had
every reason to suppose, from their behavior antece-
dent to our departure, would now be withheld from us,
or brought in such small quantities as to be worse than
none. What we anticipated was true. When we en-
tered the bay, where before we had the shouts of thou-
sands to welcome our arrival, we had the mortification
not to see a single canoe, and hardly any inhabitants
in the towns. Cook was chagrined, and his people
were soured. Towards night, however, the canoes
came in, but the provisions both in quantity and quali-
ty plainly informed us, that times were altered ; and
what was very remarkable was the exorbitant price
they asked, and the particular fancy they all at once
took to iron daggers or dirks, which were the only arti-
cles that were any ways current, with the chiefs at
least. It was also equally evident from the looks of
the natives, as well as every other appearance, that
our former friendship w^as at an end, and that we had

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 107

iiothins: to do but to hasten our departure to some dif-
ferent island, where our vices were not known, and
where our extrinsic virtues might gain us another
short space of being wondered at, and doing as we
pleased, or, as our tars expressed it, of being happy
by the month.

" Nor was their passive appearance of disgust all
we had to fear, nor did it continue long. Before dark
a canoe with a number of armed chiefs came along-
side of us without provisions, and indeed without any
perceptible design. After staying a short time only,
they went to the Discovery, where a part of them
went on board. Here they affected great friendship,
and unfortunately overacting it, Gierke was suspi-
cious, and ordered two sentinels on the gangways.
These men were purposely sent by the chief, who
had formerly been so very intimate with Gierke, and
afterwards so ill treated by him, with the charge
of stealing his jolly-boat. They came with a deter-
mination of mischief, and effected it. After they
were all returned to the canoe but one, they got their
paddles and everything ready for a start. Those in
the canoes, observing the sentry to be watchful, took
off his attention by some conversation, that they knew
would be pleasing to him, and by this means favored
the designs of the man on board, who watching his
opportunity snatched two pairs of tongs, and other iron
tools that then lay close by the armorers at work at
the for^e, and mounting the gangway-rail, with one
leap threw himself and his goods into the canoe, that
was then upon the move, and, taking up his paddle
joined the others ; and standing directly for the shorej

108 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

they were out of our reach almost instantaneously,
even before a musket could be had from the arms-
chest to fire at them. The sentries had only hangers.
This was the boldest exploit that had yet been at-
tempted, and had a bad aspect. Gierke immediately
sent to the commodore, who advised him to send a boat
on shore to endeavor at least to regain the goods, if
they could not the men who took them ; but the
errand was as ill executed as contrived, and the mas-
ter of the Discovery was glad to return with a severe
drubbing from the very chief, who had been so mal-
treated by Gierke. The crew were also pelted with
stones, and had all their oars broken, and they had not
a single weapon in the boat, not even a cutlass,
to defend themselves. When Gook heard of this, he
went armed himself in person to the guard on shore,
took a file of marines and went through the whole
town demanding restitution, and threatening the de-
linquents and their abettors with the severest punish-
ments ; but not being able to effect anything, he came
oflfjust at sunset highly displeased, and not a little
concerned at the bad appearance of things. But even
this was nothing to what followed.

" On tire thirteenth, at night, the Discovery's large
cutter, which was at her usual moorings at the bower
buoy, was taken away. On the fourteenth the cap-
tains met to consult what should be done on this
alarming occasion ; and the issue of their opinions was,
that one of the two captains should land with armed
boats and a guard of marines at Kiverua, and attempt
to persuade Teraiobu who was then at his house in
that town, to come on board upon a visit, and that

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 109

when he was on board he should be kept prisoner, until
his subjects should release him by a restitution of the
cutter ; and if it was afterwards thought proper, he, or
some of the family who might accompany him, should
be kept as perpetual hostages for the good behavior of
the people, during the remaining part of our continu-
ance at Kearakekua. This plan was the more ap-
proved of by Cook, as he had so repeatedly on former
occasions to the southward employed it with success.
Gierke was then in a deep decline of his health, and
too feeble to undertake the affair, though it naturally
devolved upon him, as a point of duty not well trans-
ferable ; he therefore begged Cook to oblige him so
much, as to take that part of the business of the day
upon himself in his stead. This Cook agreed to, but
previous to his landing made some additional arrange-
ments, respecting the possible event of things, though
it is certain from the appearance of the subsequent
arrangements, that he guarded more against the flight
of Teraiobu, or those he could wish to see, than from
an attack, or even much insult. The disposition of our
guards, when the movements began, was thus. Cook
in his pinnace with six private marines ; a corporal,
sergeant, and two lieutenants of marines went ahead,
followed by the launch with other marines and seamen
on one quarter, and the small cutter on the other,
with only the crew on board. This part of the guard
rowed for Kearakekua. Our large cutter and two
boats from the Discovery had orders to proceed to the
mouth of the bay, form at equal distances across, and
prevent any communication by water from any other
part of the island to the towns witnin the bay, or from

110 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

those without. Cook landed at Kiverua about nine
o'clock in the morning, with the marines in the pin-
nace, and went by a circuitous march to the house of
Teraiobu, in order to evade the suspicion of anj de-
sign. This route led through a considerable part of
the town, which discovered every symptom of mis-
chief, though Cook, blinded by some fatal cause,
could not perceive it, or too self-confident, would not
regard it.

" The town was evacuated by the women and chil-
dren, who had retired to the circumjacent hills, and ap-
peared almost destitute of men ; but there were at that
time two hundred chiefs, and more than twice that
number of other men, detached and secreted in differ-
ent parts of the houses nearest to Teraiobu, exclusive
of unknown numbers without the skirts of the town,
and those that were seen were dressed many of them
in black. When the guard reached Teraiobu's house,
Cook ordered the lieutenant of marines to go in and
see if he was at home, and if he was, to bring him
out ; the lieutenant went in, and found the old man
sitting with two or three old women of distinction,
and when he gave Teraiobu to understand that Cook
was without, and wanted to see him, he discovered
the greatest marks of uneasiness, but arose and accom-
panied the lieutenant out, holding his hand. When
he came before Cook, he squatted down upon his hams
as a mark of humiliation, and Cook took him by the
hand from the lieutenant, and conversed with him.

" The appearance of our parade both by water and
on shore, though conducted with the utmost silence,
and with as little ostentation as possible, had alarmed

LIFE OF JOHN lEDYARD. Ill

the towns on both sides of the bay, but particularly
Kiverua, where the people were in complete order for
an onset ; otherwise it would have been a matter of
surprise, that though Cook did not see twenty men in
passing through the town, yet before he had conversed
ten minutes with Teraiobu, he was surrounded by
three or four hundred people, and above half of them
chiefs. Cook grew uneasy when he observed this, and
was the more urgent in his persuasions with Teraiobu
to go on board, and actually persuaded the old man to
go at length, and led him within a rod or two of the
shore ; but the just fears and conjectures of the chiefs
at last interposed. They held the old man back, and
one of the chiefs threatened Cook, when he attempted
to make them quit Teraiobu. Some of the crowd
now cried out, that Cook was going to take their king
from them and kill him, and there was one in particu-
lar that advanced towards Cook in an attitude that
alarmed one of the guard, who presented his bayonet
and opposed him, acquainting Cook in the mean time
of the danger of his situation, and that the Indians in
a few minutes would attack him ; that he had over-
heard the man, whom he had just stopped from rush-
ing in upon him, say that our boats which were out in
the harbor had just killed his brother, and he would
be revenged. Codk attended to what this man said,
and desired him to show him the Indian, that had
dared to attempt a combat with him, and as soon as
he was pointed out, Cook fired at him with a blank.
The Indian, perceiving he received no damage from
the fire, rushed from without the crowd a second time,
and threatened any one that should oppose him. Cook,

112 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

perceiving this, fired a ball, which entering the Indian's
groin, he fell and was drawn off by the rest.

" Cook perceiving the people determined to oppose
his designs, and that he should not succeed without
further bloodshed, ordered the lieutenant of marines,
Mr Phillips, to withdraw his men and get them into
the 'boats, which w^ere then Ijing ready to receive
them. This was effected by the sergeant, but the in-
stant they began to retreat, Cook was hit with a stone,
and perceiving the man who threw it, shot him dead.
The officer in the boats observing the guard retreat,
and hearing this third discharge, ordered the boats
to fire. This occasioned the guard to face about and
fire, and then the attack became general. Cook and
Mr Phillips were together a few paces in the rear of the
guard, and, perceiving a general fire without orders,
quitted Teraiobu, and ran to the shore to put a stop
to it, but not being able to make themselves heard,
and being close pressed upon by the chiefs, they joined
the guard, who fired as they retreated. Cook, having
at length reached the margin of the water, between the
fire of the boats, waved with his hat for them to cease
firing and come in ; and while he was doing this, a
chief from behind stabbed him with one of our iron
daggers, just under the shoulder-blade, and it passed
quite through his body. Cook fell with his face in the
water, and immediately expired. Mr Phillips, not
being able any longer to use his fusee, drew his
sword, and engaging the chief whom he saw kill Cook,
soon despatched him. His guard in the mean time
were all killed but two, and they had plunged into
the water, and were swimming to the boats. He

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 113

Stood thus for some time the butt of all their force, and
being as complete in the use of his sword, as he was
accomplished, his noble achievements struck the bar-
barians with awe ; but being wounded, and growing
faint from loss of blood and excessive action, he
plunged into the sea with his sword in his hand and
swam to the boats ; where, however, he was scarcely
taken on board, before somebody saw one of the
marines, that had swum from the shore, lying flat upon
the bottom. Phillips, hearing this, ran aft, threw
himself in after him, and brought him up with him to
the surface of the water, and both were taken in.

" The boats had hitherto kept up a very hot fire, and,
lying off without the reach of any weapon but stones,
had received no damage, and, being fully at leisure to
keep up an unremitted and uniform action, made great
havoc among the Indians, particularly among the
chiefs, who stood foremost in the crowd and were
most exposed ; but whether it was from their bravery,
or ignorance of the real cause that deprived so many
of them of life, that they made such a stand, may be
questioned, since it is certain that they in general, if not
universally, understood heretofore, that it was the fire
only of our arms that destroyed them. This opinion
seems to be strengthened by the circumstance of the
large, thick mats, they were observed to wear, which
were also constantly kept wet ; and, furthermore, the
Indian that Cook fired at with a blank discovered no
fear, when he found his mat unburnt, saying in their
language, when he showed it to the by-standers, that
no fire had touched it. This may be supposed at least
to have had some influence. It is, however, certain,
15

114 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

whether from one or both these causes, that the num-
bers that fell made no apparent impression on those
who survived ; they were immediately taken off, and
had their places supplied in a constant succession.

" Lieutenant Gore, who commanded as first lieute-
nant under Cook in the Resolution, which lay opposite
the place where this attack was made, perceiving with
his glass that the guard on shore was cut off, and that
Cook had fallen, immediately passed a spring upon
one of the cables, and, bringing the ship's starboard
guns to bear, fired two round shot over the boats into
the middle of the crowd ; and both the thunder of the
cannon, and the effects of the shot, operated so power-
fully, that it produced a most precipitate retreat from
the shore to the town."

" Our mast that was repairing at Kearakekua, and
our astronomical tents were protected only by a corpo-
ral and six marines, exclusive of the carpenters at
work upon it, and demanded immediate protection.
As soon, therefore, as the people were refreshed with
some grog and reinforced, they were ordered thither.
In the mean time the marine, w ho had been taken up
by Mr Phillips, discovered returning life, and seemed
in a way to recover, and we found Mr Phillips's
wound not dangerous, though very bad. We also ob-
served at Kiverua, that our dead were drawn off by
the Indians, which was a mortifying sight ; but after
the boats were gone they did it in spite of our cannon,
which were firing at them several minutes. They
had no sooner effected this matter, than they retired
to the hills to avoid our shot. The expedition to
Kiverua had taken up about an hour and an half, and
we lost, besides Cook, a corporal and three marines.

LIFE t>F JOHN LEDYARD. 115

" Notwithstanding the despatch that was used in
sending a force to Kearakekua, the small party there
were already attacked before their arrival, but by an
excellent manoeuvre of taking possession of the
Moral, they defended themselves without any material
damage, until the succours came. The natives did
not attempt to molest the boats in their debarkation of
our people, which we much wondered at, and they
soon joined the others upon the Moral, amounting in
the whole to about sixty. Mr Phillips, notwithstand-
ing his wound, was present, and in conjunction with
Lieutenant King carried the chief command. The plan
was to act only defensively, until we could get our mast
into the water, to tow off, and our tents into the boats ;
and as soon as that was effected, to return on board.
This we did in about an hour's time, but not without
killing a number of the natives, who resolutely attacked
us, and endeavored to mount the walls of the Morai,
where they were lowest ; but being opposed with our
skill in such modes of attack, and the great superiority
of our arms, they were even repulsed with loss, and at
length retreated among the houses adjacent to the
Morai, which affording a good opportunity to retreat
to our boats, we embraced it, and got off all well.
Our mast was taken on the booms, and repaired there,
though to disadvantage."

This account is the more valuable, as having been
drawn up by one, who had a personal knowledge of
all that passed. Neither Captain King, nor Captain
Burney, each of whom has described the transactions,
was on shore with Cook. Nor indeed, as hinted
above, can it be inferred with certainty from anything
Ledyard says, that he was in that part of the fray.

116 Life of john ledyard.

But the confidence and particularity with which he
speaks would seem to indicate actual observation.
We have Captain Burney's testimony, moreover,
which may be deemed conclusive. He says, that
" Cook landed with Lieutenant Molesworth Phillips of
the marines, Sergeant Gibson, Corporals Thomas and
Ledyard, and six private marines, being in the whole
elev^en persons."* It follows, that Ledyard must have
been near Cook from the time he left the ship till he
was killed, and that he heard and saw distinctly all
that happened. Four marines were killed, three
wounded, and three escaped unhurt, of which last
number he was one.

After this melancholy catastrophe, the ships re-
mained six days in the harbor, till the defective mast
was repaired, and a supply of water obtained. This
latter was effected with difficulty, however, as the
watering parties were repeatedly assailed by the na-
tives, and skirmishes ensued. It may well be imagined,
therefore, that the hour of departure was hailed with
joy by all on board. They passed ten days more among
the islands, and, the water on board being bad, a fresh
supply v^^as procured at the island of Atui. The season
being now advanced, and everything in readiness, they
launched out again into the great ocean, pursuing a
northerly course, with the design of making a second
attempt to explore the polar regions, in search of a
northwest passage. In six weeks they approached the
shore of Kamtschatka, and anchored in the harbor of
St Peter and St Paul. The result of the expedition is
well known. They passed through Bering's Strait, and

* Chronological History of Northeastern Voyages of Discovery
p. 260.

LIFE OF JOHN I,ED¥ARB. 117

groped among islands of ice in a high latitude, but with
no better success, than the year before. They touched
again at Kamtschatka on their return, and, proceeding
by the way of China and the Cape of Good Hope,
they reached England, after an absence of four years
and three months.

Many facts and speculations in our traveller's jour-
nal, not a little curious in themselves, have been
omitted in the preceding sketch, because they would
occupy a space not consistent with the nature or limits
of the present memoir. I am tempted, however, in
this connexion to quote his remarks on the mode in
which the South Sea Islands were probably first peo-
pled. The subject has since been much discussed by
philosophers and geographers, but no one before him
had examined it with views so much enlarged by ex-
perience and observation ; and it is believed he was the
first to advance the opinion, that the inhabitants of
those islands, scattered as they are through an ocean
of vast extent, " were derived from one common ori-
gin." Of this he will not allow that there is any room
for doubt, and the only question is, whether they came
from Asia "or America. Whichever way this question
may be answered, there will remain objections not
easy to be removed, if we attempt to find out a re-
semblance in every peculiarity of character and man-
ners, or to explain obvious diiferences. He does not
pretend to solve the problem, but only to throw out
such hints illustrative of the subject as occurred to
him, and as tend to establish the possibility, that an
emigration from either of the continents might have
reached to all the islands, without any other means of

110 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARB.

transportation, than such as the people themselves
possessed.

" The New Zealanders say theh' ancestors came
from an island called Havvyjee ; now Owyhee, as we
carelessly pronounce it, is pronounced by its inhabi-
tants Hawyhee. This is a curious circumstance, and
admits of a presumption, that the island of Owyhee, or
Hawyhee, is the island from which the New Zealand-
ers originally emigrated. It supersedes analogical
evidence. But Owyhee is in twenty north, and New^
Zealand is in forty south, and not above three
hundred leagues distant from the southern parts of
New Holland, and is besides situated in the latitudes
of variable winds, which admit of emigrations from
any quarter. On the other hand, the languages of
Owyhee and New Zealand were originally the same,
and as much alike as that of Otaheite and New Zea-
land ; not to mention other circumstances of the like
kind. Whereas the languages at New Zealand and
New Holland have very little or no resemblance to
each other. This difference, with many others, be-
tween New Zealand and New Holland, cannot be
reconciled; but the difficulties that may arise from
considering the distance between New Zealand and
Owyhee may be, as there are clusters of islands that
we know of, and there may be others unknown, that
occupy, at no great distance from each other, the inter-
mediate ocean from Owyhee to New Zealand. The
obvious reasonings, that would be used to conclude the
New Zealanders emigrants from Owyhee, would be,
first, to suppose them from the Friendly Isles, then the
Society Isles, and then the Sandwich Isles ; and the

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 119

gradation thus formed is very rational and argumenta-
tive, because all their manners and customs have the
same cast. Suppose, then, that the islands we have
mentioned were peopled from Owyhee, and suppose it
to be the first island settled, the second arid ultimate
question is. From which of the continents, America or
Asia ? Its situation respecting America, and the trade
winds, strongly intimate from that continent, for it is
twice the distance from Asia that it is from America ;
and a ship, fitted for the purpose at China, which is in
a paralled latitude, would be more than two months in
reaching it, and we must suppose the emigrations that
respect these people to have been merely fortuitous ;
but a canoe, driven by stress of weather from the
southern part of California, or the coast of New Gali-
cia, the opposite parallel, would reach Owyhee in a
direct course in half the time or less. The distance
is about nine hundred leagues, and we saw people at
the island Watteeoo, who had been driven from Ota-
heite there, which is five hundred leagues.

" But if we suppose Owyhee peopled from South
America, we shall be somewhat disappointed in sup-
porting the conjecture by arguments, that respect their
manners and customs, and those of the Californians,
Mexicans, Peruvians, or Chilians. There is but a
faint analogy, compared with that which we should
find on the southeastern coasts of Asia in these
respects. Let us then, without attending to the few
analogical customs, that subsist between the Owyhee-
ans and the South Americans, reverse our system of
emigration. Suppose the inhabitants of the Sandwich
Islands to have come from the Society Islands, and

120 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYAKD.

those from the Friendly Isles, and the New Zealan-
ders from them ; the inhabitants of the Friendly Isles
from New Caledonia, from the New Hebrides, New
Guinea, Celebes, Borneo, Java, or Sumatra, and finally
from the continent at Malacca. Supposing the emi-
gration we are now speaking of to have taken this
course, the most apparent argument in its favor is, the
proximity of the several islands to each other, from (he
Friendly Isles to the continent ; but its sufliciency
will abate, if we consider emigrations, as I think they
are, oftener the effects of accident than previous inten-
tion ; especially when out of sight of land. Besides,
it is evident from ocular proof, that, though New
Guinea and New Holland are very near to each other,
there has never been any intercourse between them ;
and yet, from many appearances, there seems to have
been one between New Guinea, the New Hebrides,
and the Friendly Isles, although farther distant from
each other. There is indeed no remarkable similarit}^
in the people, customs, and manners of New Guinea
and the Friendly Isles, but an exact conformity be-
tween the domestic animals and vegetable productions
of both countries. Some fruits, that we call tropical,
are peculiar to all places within the tropics ; but
bread-fruit is nowhere known, but among these islands
and the islands further northward on the coast of
Asia. It is not known at New Holland, but it is
at New Guinea. Therefore, wherever I can find this
bread-fruit in particular, I shall suppose an intercourse
to have once subsisted, and the more so, when I find a
correspondent agreement between the animals of dif-
ferent places ; and it ought to be remembered also.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 121

that there are no other animals throughout those
islands, unless they are near the continent ; those
remote islands have no other. It is the same with
their vegetables. The remote islands have no water-
melons, guavas, and such other fruits.

" These observations will essentially apply to the
circumstances of emigration. A canoe, in passing
along its own coast, or visiting a neighboring island,
would take on board a hog, a dog, a fowl, and bread-
fruit for subsistence, in preference to a monkey, a
snake, or a guava ; and if the canoe is driven acci-
dentally on some foreign island, they turn to greater
advantage."

Since these remarks were written, there have been
many opportunities for further discovery, but very
little has been added to the stock of knowledge on
the subject. The missionaries, during a residence of
thirty years in the Society Islands, have found nothing
among the traditions or customs of the people, from
which their origin can be deduced. It was supposed
for a time, that the languages of the islanders in the
Pacific Ocean would afford a clue, that might lead to
a solution of the difficulty ; but hitherto all inquiries
in this quarter have failed, and contributed rather to
confirm than diminish the uncertainty, which existed at
first. It is proved, that in all the islands, constituting
that portion of the globe denominated in recent
geography Polynesia, a multitude of dialects prevail,
which have so near an affinity to each other, as to
make it demonstratively certain, that they all sprang
from the same stock. It is moreover remarkable,
that none of these dialects, which has as yet been ex-
16

122 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

amined, bears any analogy to other known languages,
except those in use among the natives of these
islands. It is true, that in the Friendly Islands, New
Zealand, and some others bordering on the Asiatic
islands, a few Malayan w^ords are intermixed with the
Polynesian, but so sparingly as to make a very small
part only of the whole, and with characteristics
plainly indicating their foreign origin. If we may
judge from the grammars prepared by the missiona-
ries, as well as from their own declarations, very few
languages are more widely different in their principles,
structure, and vocabulary, than the Malayan and Poly-
nesian. No argument, therefore, drawn from the
analogy of languages, any more than from striking
traits of character in the people, can be urged to
prove the Polynesians to have come originally from
the islands on the south of Asia.

The same may be said in regard to northern Asia, and
South America. No resemblances in language have
been discovered, and very slight ones only in prevail-
ing customs ; and these, after all, may be accidental.
Malte-Brun is opposed to the theory of an emigration
from South America, on the ground, that the islands
nearest the coast are not inhabited. But this reason
has very little weight. In the first place, these islands
are small, and would thus be the less likely to be met
by canoes, floating at random over the ocean, which
was undoubtedly the condition of the first emigrants ;
and in the next place, they are sterile, and might not
have afforded subsistence to people landing on them.
Again, these islands are not in clusters, but scattered
remotely from each other, and many casualties may

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 123

be imagined by which settlers on them might have
been cut off, even if accident had thrown them there.
In short, little can be said, as to the mode of the
first peopling of the Polynesian islands, with any
approach to certainty. The study of the language,
which the missionaries are now prosecuting, will open
a new channel of investigation, from which some
favorable results may be hoped. Nothing will proba-
bly put the question beyond controversy, but the dis-
covery of a language among some of the tribes of
Asia, or America, which bears a close resemblance to
the Polynesian. As no written memorials of the lan-
guages of these tribes remain, if it should have hap-
pened, that the nation from which the islanders
descended has become extinct, together with its lan-
guage, which is most likely to be the case, the prob-
lem must go down to future ages, a theme only for
ingenious conjecture and speculation. When the pre-
valence of the trade wind is considered, always setting
towards the west, the probability of a migration from
America is much stronger, than of one from Asia.
Ledyard considers the emigration to have been compar-
atively recent, because the islands are volcanic, having
been formed by violent eruptions from the earth ; and
many centuries must have elapsed after such an event,
before they could be habitable.

The journal, which has now passed under our
notice, can in no respect be regarded as a complete
narrative of Cook's Third Voyage. It was written,
as heretofore stated, under many disadvantages, in
haste, and without the aid of the author's original
notes ; and to all appearance the manuscript was
printed without his correction and supervision. The

124 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

part prepared by himself breaks off, indeed, more than
a year before the end of the voyage, and was proba-
bly filled out by the publisher from the brief account
before printed in England. Ledyard's descriptions
agree in the main, however, with those contained in
the large work, which afterwards appeared under the
authority of the Admiralty. Occasional differences
will of course naturally be expected, when we take
into view the different circumstances under which the
commanding officer, and a corporal of marines, would
observe the objects and events they described. The
latter was often in situations to witness and contem-
plate occurrences, which could not com6 to the
knowledge of the former, and which, to a mind acute
and observing like his, would make impressions
worthy to be recorded. Nor is it any disparagement
of the other writers to say, that several of Ledyard's
descriptions of the manners and peculiarities of the
natives are written with a vivacity, descrimination,
and force, which they have not equalled. He utters
his own sentiments with a boldness, and expresses
himself with a confidence, that convince us of his
sincerity, honest zeal, and mental vigor, even when
we cannot assent to his opinions. He sometimes cen-
sures his superiors in office with a freedom not alto-
gether commendable, and imagines them to have been
actuated by motives, which could scarcely exist. This
may be perceived in the tone, which pervades some
of the extracts quoted above. His station was not
one, in which he could be acquainted with the views
and plans of the commander, and yet his inquisitive
temper, and high sense of his dignity as a man, prompt-
ed him to think for himself, and put much reliance in

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 125

the conclusions of his own mind. When these were
thwarted, as they often would be, it ,was natural that
he should suppose his superiors in an error, especially
if ill consequences resulted from their measures.

He was accustomed to speak with high respect of
Captain Cook, although he thought his proceedings
towards the natives sometimes rash, and even unjusti-
fiable. But this was no more than has been thought
by many others. Nobodyhas ever doubted the purity
of Cook's intentions, or his humanity, but he adopted
a system of conduct towards the savages, especially
in punishing slight offences, the policy and good effects
of which were less obvious to others than to himself.
Pilfering was so universal in all the South Sea islands,
that it was hardly recognised in the moral code of the
natives as an offence, much less a crime ; yet he inva-
riably punished transgressions of this kind with severi-
ty. A long course of experience had confirmed the
navigator in this system, and he practised it usually
with success. We have seen how he applied it in the
case of Feenou, who stole the peacocks at Tongata-
boo, and many similar instances might be cited. It
was his rigid adherence to this course, in fact, which
at last caused his death ; for he landed at Kiverua with
the express purpose of enticing the old king on board,
that he might retain him there as a hostage, till the
stolen boat should be given up. The opinions of
Ledyard on this head, therefore, though sometimes
expressed with earnestness, argue no disrespect or
want of esteem for the commander, whom he honored
for the high station to which his merits had raised
him, and whom he admired for his many great and
good qualities.

126 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

CHAPTER VI.

Ledyard returns to America. — Interview with his mother after an absence of
eight years. — Passes the winter in Hartford, and writes his Jom-nal of Cook's
Voyage. — Visits New York and Philadelphia to concert with the merchants a
plan of a commercial expedition. — Robert Morris agrees to engage in a trading
voyage, under his direction, to the Northwest Coast. — Proceeds to Boston,
and afterwards to New London and New York, to procure a vessel for the
purpose. — Failure of the enterprise, after a year had been spent in fruitless
attempts to carry it into effect. — Letters to his mother. — Makes a trial in New
London to enlist the merchants of that place in his scheme. — Was the first
to propose a voyage for a mercantile adventure to the Northwest Coast. — Sails
for Cadiz. — Letters from that city containing political remarks. — Sails for
L'Orient. — Makes an agreement with a company of merchants there to aid
him in such a voyage as he had proposed in America. — After eight months'
preparation it is given up. — Goes to Paris.

During the two years succeeding our traveller's
arrival in England from Cook's last expedition, lie
continued in the navy, but what rank he held, or on
what stations he served, cannot now be ascertained.
It is only known, that he refused to be attached to
any of the squadrons, which came out to America,
giving as a reason, that he would not appear in arms
against his native country. Growing weary, however,
of a mode of life little suited to his disposition, unless
on some adventurous enterprise, like that from which
he had lately returned, his thoughts began to wander
homeward, and to dwell on the scenes of his youthful
days. Apparently conquering the scruples, which he
had hitherto urged as the motives of his reluctance,
he sought the first opportunity to be transferred to the
American station, and in December, 1782, we find
him on board a British man-of-war in Huntington
Bay, Long Island Sound.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 127

It was natural that his first impulse should be to
visit his mother, who lived at Southold. Ostensibly
for this purpose he obtained permission of seven days'
absence from the ship, but evidently intending to
return no more. Long Island was then in the posses-
sion of the British. He remained but a short time
among his old acquaintances at Huntington, where, it
will be recollected, in his theological tour ten years
before, he had " feasted twelve days on Mr Prime's
great library." From this place he hastened to South-
old, and the first interview with his mother is repre-
sented as affecting. She kept a boarding-house,
which was at that time occupied chiefly by British
officers. He rode up to the door, alighted, went
in, and asked if he could be accommodated in her
house as a lodger. She replied that he could, and
showed him a room into which his baggage was con-
veyed. After having adjusted his dress, he came out
and took a seat by the fire, in company with seve-
ral other officers, without making himself known to
his mother, or entering into conversation with any
person. She frequently passed and repassed through
the room, and her eye was observed to be attracted
towards him with more than usual attention. He still
remained silent. At last, after looking at him steadi-
ly for some minutes, she deliberately put on her spec-
tacles, approached nearer to him, begging his pardon
for her rudeness, and telling him, that he so much re-
sembled a son of hers, who had been absent eight
years, that she could not resist her inclination to view
him more closely. The scene that followed may be
imagined, but not described ; for Ledyard had a tender

128 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

heart, and affection for his mother was among its
deepest and most constant emotions.

As he had already resolved to quit the British ser-
vice, being persuaded that no principles of justice or
honor could make it his duty to act with the enemies
of his country, he thought it prudent, before the seven
days had expired, to leave his mother's house, and go
over to the continent. The recollections of his child-
hood detained him a short time at New London and
Groton, and he then proceeded to Hartford, where,
after a ten years' wandering in the remotest corners
of the globe, he received the cordial greetings of
his early friends, and found a kind home under
the roof of his uncle and former guardian. His feel-
ings on this occasion will be understood from his
remarks in a letter, written shortly after he reached
Hartford. " You will be surprised to hear of my
being at Hartford ; I am surprised myself. I made
my escape from the British at Huntington Bay. I am
now at Mr Seymour's, and as happy as need be. I
have a little cash, two coats, three waistcoasts, six
pair of stockings, and half a dozen ruffled shirts.
I am a violent whig and a violent tory. Many are my
acquaintances. I eat and drink when I am asked, and
visit when I am invited ; in short, I generally do as I
am bid. All I want of my friends is friendship ; pos-
sessed of that, I am happy." In writing to other per-
sons he expresses similar satisfaction, and although,
in alluding to the toils and sufferings he had under-
gone, he declares himself to have been worn down by
them to such a degree, as to make his person so
" perfect a contrast to beauty or elegance, that

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 129

Hogarth himself could not deform it ; " yet he writes
with a gaiety and playfulness, which show the sorrows
of the past to have been forgotten in the felicity of
the present, and that no gloomy anticipations of the
future were allowed to mingle their alloy.

In Hartford he remained four months, that is, from
the first of January till about the first of May, in
which period he wrote the Journal of Cook's Voyage.
In this occupation, and in visiting his friends, he
passed the winter. His restless spirit could be tran-
quil no longer. He had great projects in view, which
he was impatient to see executed. New adventures
courted his fancy, and flattering hopes as usual pressed
him forward with an ardent, determined, and ceaseless
zeal. Bidding adieu to his friends in Hartford, he
repaired to New York, where he unfolded his plans to
such persons, as he thought might be induced to pa-
tronize them ; but not meeting with encouragement
adequate to his sanguine expectations, he hastened
onward to Philadelphia. He had but just arrived in
that city, when he described his condition to his
cousin, Dr Isaac Ledyard, in a manner so characteris-
tic, that no apology will be necessary for quoting the
letter in full.

*' The day after I parted with you, I took the Bor-
denton route, and the next morning landed at the
Crooked Billet, where I breakfasted, and sallied out to
view the nakedness of things here. I first went to
McClanagan ; he had no navigation ; next to two other
houses, but to no purpose. I then went among the
shipping, and examined them pretty thoroughly. I
doubt that I should even be put to it to get to sea be-
17

130 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

fore the mast. The most of the shipping here are
foreigners. Sixteen sail of seven different maritime
powers arrived a few days ago. Fourteen sailors
went out to the northward the morning I arrived, for
want of employ, and numbers are strolling the docks
on the same account. There is at present little home
navigation.

" After a walk of about four hours I returned to
my quarters, asked for a room to change my dress,
and went up and counted my cash ; turned it over
and looked at it ; shook it in my hand ; recounted it,
and found two French crowns, half a crown, one
fourth of a dollar, one eighth of a dollar, and just
twelve coppers. Shall I visit H's ? I looked at my
stockings ; they will do ; — my shoes — if I look that
way, my two crowns and I shall part. We did part, — •
I put my new pumps on, washed, shaved, and went to
H's, where I had determined not to go. Mr H. is
now waiting for his horse ; he is going to Princeton.
This will go by him. I am at a loss whether to say
anything about money here, or depend upon this letter
meeting you at Princeton, wait the return of Mr H.,
the chance he has of seeing you, or — I don't know
what to do. — 1 am determined. Send me either by
Mr H. or the first conveyance — some cash. Adieu."

In this state of embarrassment he continued for
several days, seeking employment without success,
mortified at the defeat of all his purposes, and cha-
grined that his schemes should be so coldly received
by those, whom he had fondly hoped would under-
stand and promote them. By another letter, however,
written two or three weeks after the above, it would

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 131

appear, that a gleam of light was breaking in upon
him, and that his perseverance had not been wholl}
fruitless. He writes again to his cousin ;

" It is uncertain by what medium of conveyance
this may reach you. I design it for the Amboy House,
and thence to Middletown. A duplicate will be
directed to Princeton. It is abundantly manifest, that
this argues anxiety, and of so intense a kind too, as
to prompt a wish for the possibility of the annihilation
of time and distance. I have been so often the sport
of fortune, that I durst hardly credit the present dawn
of bright prospects. But it is a fact, that the Honora-
ble Robert Morris is disposed to give me a ship to go
to the North Pacific Ocean. I have had two inter-
views with him at the Finance Office, and tomorrow
I expect a conclusive one. What a noble hold he in-
stantly took of the enterprise ! I have been two
days, at his request, drawing up a minute detail of a
plan, and an estimate of the outfits, which I shall
present him with tomorrow ; and I am pleased to find,
that it will be two thousand pounds less than one of
his own. I take the lead of the greatest commercial
enterprise, that has ever been embarked on in this
country ; and one of the first moment, as it respects
the trade of America. If the affair is concluded on,
as I expect it will be, it is probable I shall set off for
New England to procure seamen, or a ship, or both.
Morris is wrapt up in the idea of Yankee sailors,

" Necessity has overcome my delicacy. I have
unbosomed myself to H. and laid my poverty open to
him. He has relieved me for the present, which I
have told him to draw on you for. Send me some

132 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

money, for Heaven's sake, lest the laurel, now sus-
pended over the brows of your friend, should fall irre-
coverably into the dust. Adieu."

The enterprise to which he alludes in this letter, as
having been concerted with Mr Morris, and which had
occupied his thoughts ever since his return from Cook's
expedition, was a trading voyage to the Northwest
Coast. At this time no such mercantile adventure
had been attempted, either in this country or Europe,
nor is it known that anything of the kind had even
been contemplated. Ledyard's knowledge of the
resources of the Northwest Coast in furs, derived from
his observations while there, particularly at Nootka
Sound and the Russian establishment on the island of
Onalaska, together with the enormous advances, which
he had seen paid in Canton on the original cost of this
article, had convinced him that great profits might
be realized by a voyage, fitted out expressly for this
trade. Hitherto no market had been opened to the
natives, by which they could dispose of the supera-
bundance of their furs, or receive such articles in
exchange, as might suit their fancy or convenience ;
hence the furs could be purchased extremely low, and
paid for in commodities of little intrinsic value, and at
such prices as the vendor might choose to affix. It
was clear, therefore, in his mind, that they, who
should first engage in this trade, would reap immense
profits by their earliest efibrts, and at the same time
gain such knowledge and experience, as would enable
them to pursue it for years with advantages superior
to any, that could be commanded by the competitors,
who might be drawn into the same channel of com-
merce.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 133

So Strong had grown his confidence in the accuracy
of his opinions, by long reflection on the subject, and
such was the eagerness of his desire to prove the
truth of his theory by actual experiment, that he ap-
plied the whole energy of his mind and character to
the task of creating an interest in his project among
the merchants, who had the means of carrying it into
effect, and without whose patronage nothing could be
done. In New York he was unsuccessful ; his scheme
was called wild and visionary, and set down as bear-
ing the marks rather of a warm imagination, and
sanguine temperament, than of a sober and mature
judgment. No merchant was found willing to hazard
his money, or his reputation, in an adventure so novel
in its kind, and so questionable in its promise, a
scheme not only untried, but never before thought of.
His first inquiries in Philadelphia met with no better
favor, till Mr Robert Morris, with an enlargement of
mind and purpose, which characterized his undertak-
ings, entered into his views, and made arrangements
to furnish the outfits of a voyage, according to !he
plan he drew up.

The first thing to be done was to procure a ship
suitable for such a voyage. At that time there was
none unemployed in Philadelphia, and Ledyard was
despatched to Boston, where it was thought a pur-
chase might speedily be effected, and where progress
was actually made in the preparation of a vessel
for this purpose ; but for some cause not now known
it was taken for a voyage of a different kind. He
next proceeded to New London, where the Con-
tinental frigate, Trumbull, was engaged for the voy-

134 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

age, but this ship was afterwards diverted to another
adventure, suggested by this plan. The Count d'Ar-
tois, a large French ship then lying in the harbor of
New London was next thought of, but was finally
otherwise destined. Again, a ship in New York, of
about three hundred tons, was provided ; but on
examination it proved to be so old and defective,
that it was condemned as unsafe for a voyage of such
length and hazard. The season was by this time too
far advanced to think of prosecuting the voyage before
the next spring. Meantime Mr Daniel Parker was
employed to purchase a ship in New York, and to
have it in readiness as soon as the favorable season for
its sailing should arrive. A ship was procured accord-
ingly, but the outfits were delayed from time to time,
till the winter passed by, and then the spring, and at
last it was sent on an adventure to Canton. Thus a
year was spent, in a vexatious and fruitless struggle
to overcome difficulties, which thickened as he ad-
vanced, till his patience, and that of Mr Morris also,
would seem to have been exhausted, for the voyage
was altogether abandoned.

While he w^as in New London negotiating for the
ship Trumbull, after his return from Boston, he wrote
a letter to his mother, from which an extract here
follows.

" This is the first opportunity in reality, which I
have had of writing to you, since I have been in this
country. My ambition to do everything, which my
disposition as a man, and my relative character as a
citizen, and more tenderly as the leading descendant
of a broken and distressed family, should prompt me

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 135

to do, has engaged me in every kind of speculation,
which afforded the least probability of advancing my
interest, my happiness, or the happiness of my friends.
These different engagements have led me into different
conditions ; sometimes I have been elated with hope,
sometimes depressed with disappointment and distress.
I postponed informing yoo of my circumstances, in-
dulging the constant hope of their soon being better,
until which time I was determined you should not
know anything particularly concerning me. If that
time is now arrived, it has been more from the influ-
ence of a kind Providence, than my own merits. My
prospects at present are a voyage to the East Indies,
and eventually round the world. It will be of two or
three years' duration. If I am successful, I shall not
have occasion to absent myself any more from my
friends ; but above all, I hope to have it in my power
to minister to the wants of a beloved parent, and
others who languish and fade in obscurity. My dear
sisters engage my tenderest love, and solicitude for
their future welfare. My best wish is, that they may
be educated and disposed of suitably to the beauty of
their persons, and their excellent hearts, and that I
could be instrumental in conferring such a kindness.
I beg my brotherly salutations to them. Tell them I
long to strew roses in their laps, and branches of palm
beneath their feet."

It ought to be recorded in this place, that while
Ledyard was in New York, anxiously waiting for a
vessel, his embarrassments, occasioned by the want of
money, were often relieved, in a spirit of great kind-
ness, by Mr Comfort Sands. This gentleman became

136 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

acquainted with him in Philadelphia, and early ap-
proved and promoted the enterprise, which he had in
contemplation ; he proposed sending an adventure by
the same voyage, and during the whole preparation
rendered him essential services, for which it is believ-
ed he never received any other returns, than such as
always attend the consciousness of benevolent acts,
and of having aided the advancement of large and
useful designs.

Not discouraged .by the ill fortune, which he had so
signally experienced, Ledyard resolved not to relin-
quish his purpose, till he had made other trials to carry
it forward. He repaired to New London, and sug-
gested the same adventure to persons of commercial
pursuits in that port. He was particularly strenuous
in persuading Captain Deshon, who owned a fine new
ship then lying in the harbor, and well constructed for
such a voyage, to embark with him in a trading
expedition to the Northwest Coast. Captain Deshon
was the nephew of the commander of the vessel, in
which Ledyard sailed to Gibraltar, and although at
that time a youth, he was himself on board in the
service of his uncle. A friendship had ever afterwards
subsisted between the two voyagers, and Captain
Deshon was now willing to join with his friend in any
mercantile adventure, wiiich should seem to him prac-
ticable, safe, and affording a reasonable prospect of
gain. But Ledyard drew so glowing a picture of the
advantages to be derived from his projected voyage,
the trifling value of the articles necessary for an out-
w^ard cargo, and the immense advances that would be
received on the price of the articles purchased ; in

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 137

short, his enthusiasm gave so bright a coloring to his
representations, and such amplitude to his hopes, that
Captain Deshon could not so far resist the dictates of
prudence, as to participate in feelings and views,
which he deemed little short of romantic, and as
more strongly tinged with the native warmth of his
character, than with that trait of mind, which weighs
and deliberates cautiously before it resolves. It is
needless to add, that, under these impressions, he
could not prevail on himself to second his friend's
wishes ; yet he was afterwards heard to say, that
Ledyard's account, in its minutest details, was verified
by the first voyages of that kind from the United
States, and that he had often regretted his not hav-
ing listened to him, and prosecuted the voyage in
compliance with his solicitation. As far as can be
ascertained, Ledyard's views of the subject, both as
unfolded in the transactions with Mr Morris and with
Captain Deshon, accorded exactly with those acted
upon by the first adventurers, who were rewarded
with extraordinary success. It was a part of his plan
to purchase lands of the natives, and establish a fac-
tory, or colony, for the purpose of a continued inter-
course and trade.

Weary of making fruitless applications in his own
country, Ledyard determined to embark for Europe,
where he might expect better patronage from larger
capitalists, and in a wider field of commercial activity.
Mr Morris had made him some compensation for the
time he had spent in his service, and favored him
with several letters of recommendation to eminent
merchants abroad, particularly in France. He took
18

138 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

passage in a vessel from New London, bound to Ca-
diz. On the first of June, 1784, he wrote as follows
to his mother.

" Since I saw you last, I have passed through a
great many difficulties and disappointments, which
my most intimate friends are, and must be for the
present, at least, unacquainted with, as it will answer
no good purpose to break their repose, or add to my
cares, by reflecting on what is past, and thence antici-
pating evil. You have no doubt heard of my very
great disappointment at New York. For a moment,
all the fortitude, that ten years' misfortune had taught
me, could hardly support me. I am now very well
in health. This will probably be the last letter I shall
write you from this country. I shall sail within
twelve days for Spain, whence I expect to go to
France, and there again to renew the business I was
so unfortunate in at New York. If I succeed in my
wishes, it may be two or three years before I return.
In this interim, I pray you to give me your blessing
and your prayers. My sisters I hope are well, and
beg them to accept a brother's love. Please to pre-
sent my kind love to my brothers. May that Being,
who is infinitely great and infinitely good, be the
friend of them, and of us all."

He sailed for Spain, as here intimated, shortly after
writing this letter, having been the first, whether in
America or Europe, to suggest a scheme of trade with
the Northwest Coast, which has since proved to be a
very lucrative field of commerce to merchants in
both hemispheres. It was more than a year after his
earliest application to the merchants in New York,

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 139

before any expedition of the kind was fitted out from
Europe. The first voyage from the United States to
the Northwest Coast was in the ship Columbia, of
three hundred tons, which sailed from Boston under
the command of Captain John Kendrick, about thrcB
years after Ledyard's visit to that place, in search of
a ship for Mr Morris. He may justly be considered,
therefore, the first projector of this branch of com-
merce. Captain Kendrick so far adopted his ulterior
purpose, as to purchase lands of the natives, with
a view of founding a colony there, wdien a proper
occasion should offer. To this end he took formal
deeds of the land, confirmed by the signs manual of
the chiefs, who claimed the territory.* To some of
his friends, Ledyard mentioned his intention of leaving
the ship on the coast, when the cargo should be
obtained, and exploring the country over land from
Nootka Sound, or some point farther north, across to
the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, thus traversing the
whole space between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
Meantime the vessel was to proceed to China, and
thence to return and meet him in New York, ready
for another voyage.

But all the fine prospects, which he had dwelt upon
in anticipation, are to be given up for the present, and
we must follow him to Europe. The passage to
Cadiz was favorable and expeditious. He does not
seem to have had any special design in visiting Cadiz,

* The original deeds are now in the office of the Secretary of State
in Washington. In company with the Columbia was the Washington,
a vessel of one hundred tons' burden, commanded by Captain Robert
Grey.

140 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

in reference to the main object of his crossing the
Atlantic. This destination probably awaited him, in
consequence of an opportunity presenting itself of a
more direct passage to that port, than to any other
in the south of Europe. L'Orient was the city,
which he intended to visit, and in which he had been
encouraged to look for patrons of his projected enter-
prise. He had been furnished with letters to weal-
thy and enterprising merchants there, and he made all
haste to be on the spot. Various causes of delay kept
him in Cadiz more than a month. This time he filled
up as well as he could, in gaining information of the
place, of its resources and trade, and of the manners
and character of the people. He also endeavored to
drive away the melancholy thoughts, incident to the
anxiety of his situation, by mingling in social circles,
and contriving to be entertained by the public amuse-
ments, that were much frequented by all ranks of
people. On the sixteenth of August he wrote thus
Cadiz to Dr Ledyard.

" Just as I was seated, and had dated my letter,
the carriage of General O'Reilly hove in view, a
clumsy, gothic vehicle, dragged by five jaded mules to
the bull-fight. Who is General O'Reilly ? A poor,
migrating, Irish cadet ; a soldier that was scalded at
the storm of Gibraltar. O'Reilly is to Cadiz, and all
wdthin his jurisdiction, which consists of two provin-
ces, what Czar Peter was to Russia. The reform he
has made in the minutest parts of his government, as
well as the most important, is looked upon as a phe-
nomenon in this country. He has, with a boldness
that characterizes an enterprising commander and

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 141

legislator, even struck at those old habits among a
people, so dangerous to be meddled with. Envy is
the natural concomitant of such merit, and O'Reilly
has probably greater friends and enemies at the court
of Madrid, than any other character in the kingdom ;
and both parties had a fair opportunity of contesting
their ascendency, after the miscarriage of the late
descent against the Moors ; but his conquering his
court enemies at home fully compensated that misfor-
tune abroad, and confirmed his fame, nay, added to its
lustre.* To execute all these great matters, O'Reilly
is not the man you would suppose. His education is
contracted ; he is capricious, severe, and arrogant ;
ordinary in his person, and forbidding in his address.

" The exhibition of the bull-fights is in a spacious
amphitheatre, that will accommodate twelve thousand
spectators. The horsemen display more skill and
courage, than the footmen. But it is a barbarous
amusement. There are many Irish inhabitants here,
all of whom are particularly friendly to Americans.
I am now writing at the house of Mr Harrison, hand-
somely situated on the side of the Alameda. I take a
family dinner with him to-day, having already taken

* This alludes to an attack by the Spaniards on Algiers in the year
1775. A formidable armament of six ships of the line, twelve frigates,
a large number of smaller vessels, and twentyfive thousand men, all
under the command of the Conde de O'Reilly, formed that expedi-
tion. A large part of the army was landed, and a partial battle ensued,
in which the Spaniards met Vv'ith a signal and most disgraceful defeat.
Severe censures were passed on O'Reilly, and a general spirit of indig-
nation existed against him throughout Spain, but the weight of his
talents, and his influence at court, enabled him to triumph over his
enemies, and to sustain himself in the highest stations.

142 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

a formal one. The British consul also receives me
with great politeness. Bat what I am doing among
these gentry, with only half a dollar and four reals in
my pocket, you must, with me, wait for time to de-
velope. I shall soon leave this place for France, and
my route will be either up the Mediterranean to Mar-
seilles, and thence on the grand canal west to Bour-
deaux ; or along the coast of Spain and Portugal by
sea. I yesterday conversed with an Englishman, who
is commissioned to treat privately with our States in
behalf of the Emperor of Morocco ; but if I can per-
suade him to send his Arabic commission back, and
join me with his cash and importance at Bordeaux, or
Nantz — . The preliminary step is accomplished, and
he is now somewhere in the town as busy in the
affair, as a dozen such heads as mine could be."

Since no more is heard of this commissioner from
the Emperor of Morocco, it is presumed the prelimi-
nary step was the only one taken in the. business.
Ledyard remained in Cadiz, apparently waiting for a
passage either to Marseilles, or to some port in the
west of France, as chance might offer. He wrote to
his friends, communicating his observations on what
passed around him, but said little of his own circum-
stances or prospects. The remarks now about to be
quoted, are contained in a letter written to his corres-
pondent in America, after he had been two weeks at
Cadiz, and are not more curious for their singularity,
than for the historical hints they convey, in regard to
the state of knowledge and feeling, which then pre-
vailed in the south of Europe, respecting the United
States.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 143

'' The people in this, as in other parts of Europe,
are more systematic than you [Americans] are in
everything. Here the routine of life, however varied,
is still uniform, whether composed of virtue or
vice, wisdom or folly. Before dinner, the merchant,
mechanic, and ordinary laborer, are assiduously intent
on their different employments. After dinner, they
as regularly devote themselves to their several gratifi-
cations, which consist either of conversation or sleep.
The opulent and polite adopt the first. At a polite
table, therefore, you hear the very best things they
are capable of saying. Here, then, I am told you err in
your politics ; I mean that kind of policy, which your
independence has given birth to. The general disap-
probation of your present government on this score, is
the sentiment of those, who are subjects of other na-
tions, as well as of this ; but I am happy to say, that
1 have found no character, who any otherwise thinks
ill of you. This is not a negative regard, bestowed
on a people they think cannot approximate their im-
portance, and therefore deserve pity ; it is a positive
one ; and you may please yourself with the assurance
of its originating from your general conduct during
the war. Another feather in your cap, and that not
an obscure one, let me tell you, is the plain, affable,
and honest deportment of your kinsfolk, who sojourn
hereabout. Brother Jonathan is an agreeable singu-
larity. These observations, which you are included
in, did not come from the cabinet of Charles, or the
Pope, who no doubt hate you very sincerely ; the one
for your laws, which he fears ; and the other for your
religion, which he is unwise enough to abominate.

144 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

" The great complaint, which people make against
your government is the obscure, unimportant, unener-
getic investitures of Congress. So strongly are they
impressed with the idea of the degree of powder,
which Congress ought to hold, compared with what
they now conceive it to be invested with, that they
declare the resolve of a Boston committee commands
more immediate attention in Cadiz, than a congres-
sional one would do ; observing, that although Con-
gress claims more respectability, it only demands
what it ought to have, and not what it is possessed of.
They further add, that whatever embarrassments may
attend the progress of a young nation, and however
excusable some exigences may have rendered some
parts of your conduct, yet surely the leading prelimi-
naries, the first strong outlines, that form the basis of
a great republic, cannot be thus lost sight of without
reflecting on your councils. Have you formed even a
treaty of friendship with that pestilential meteor in
power, Hamet, Emperor of Morocco? No. Have
you in your own right a Mediterranean passport?
No. What security have you then for your Straits-
men ? The savage, Hamet, knows no medium in
such kind of friendship ; never dreamt of such a
thing as an independent neutrality. What will you
do then ? Eat all your flour, cod, spars, and potash,
or ransom your captiv'ated countrymen at fifteen
hundred pounds a head, and lose your produce ?
Hamet wants your alliance. Give the snarling mas-
tiff a bone, and while he is gnawing it you can do as
you please. It is certain, that your unorganized sys-
tem of government is here much talked of, and you

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 145

know the consequence of these matters being much
talked of. Your paltry state schisms are considered to
be such vulgar errors, as a people aiming at the most
refined system of government could not commit, vvith-
out the imputation of perfect insanity. But adieu,
politics. Indeed I know not what humor prompted
me to offer my advice to you in this way.

" If the incongruity of my letter bespeaks a pertur-
bation of mind, it will not deceive you. It is a
cloudy day with me. However, my hobby tells me it
will be fair weather tomorrow ; and I believe it, be-
cause I wish it. You will probably next hear from
me in France. In the mean time, let me make sure
of one circumstance, and if tomorrow bring its mis-
fortunes, they will be less severe, when I reflect on
having said to those I know will believe me, that no
evil, till that which is esteemed the last of evils, can
ever obliterate, or even obscure, that lasting affection
and esteem, which I have for you and your best of
brothers. My other remembrances I commit to your
care."

He remained in Cadiz but a few days after this letter
was written, when he somewhat unexpectedly procur-
ed a passage for Brest, on board the French ship
Bourbon. It was rare for him to be out of health,
but in Cadiz he was attacked with a fever, which had
scracely left him when he went to sea. While on
board he writes, " My fever was in consequence of a
slight cold originally, and heightened by a fit of un-
common melancholy ; but I am getting about again,
and excepting a slight debility, and some of Cook's
rheumatism in my bones, I am well." His spirits
19

146 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

were not unfrequently oppressed, when the various
turns in his affairs left him inactive, with precarious
means of support, and uncertain as to the future ; but
he took great pains to conceal the symptoms of gloom
from his friends. They are occasionally discovered
in his letters, rather from his forced attempts to be
cheerful and gay, when it is evident by the general
tenor of his thoughts, that his heart is sad, than from
any formal complaints of his ill fortune, or repinings
at the will of Providence. He was now visiting
Europe in the prosecution of what he deemed a noble
and important enterprise ; but he was going among
strangers, who could only be induced to listen to his
proposals by motives of interest, and whom he must
inspire with some portion of his own enthusiasm, be-
fore they could be expected to favor his schemes, or
even comprehend his views. The task thus presented
to him was disheartening. But however despondency
might sometimes give a hue to his thoughts, he never
suffered it to weaken his resolution, or repress his
ardor. The great object of pursuit was never lost sight
of, while his way to its accomplishment was lighted by
a gleam of hope. The whole force of his mind was
now bent upon a voyage of trade and discovery to
the Northwest Coast. He was powerfully impressed
with the belief, that such an enterprise would redound
to the honor of those engaged in it, and confer new
benefits upon the commercial world ; and was not a
little chagrined at the small' encouragement, which his
strenuous exertions had received in his own country.

In this state of mind it is no wonder, that he should
express himself in the following language on his

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 147^

voyage to Brest. " I saw an English gentleman at
Cadiz, who assured me, that about six months past a
ship of seven hundred tons, commissioned by the Em-
press of Russia, was fitted out in the English Thames
on a voyage to the back parts of America ; that she
was armed, and commanded by a Russian, and that
some of her officers were those, who had been with
Cook. You see the business deserves the attention I
have endeavored, and am still striving to give it ; and
had Morris not shrunk behind a trifling obstruction, I
should have been happy, and America would this mo-
ment be triumphantly displaying her flag in the most
remote and beneficial regions of commerce. I am
tired of my vexations."

He arrived, after a short passage, at Brest, and set
off by land through Quimper to L' Orient. " I am
now at Quimper," he writes, " and tomorrow, if my
horses please, I will be in L' Orient. ' What will you
do there ? ' The best I can. Brest is a naval arse-
nal, but not so respectable as I had imagined. Mon-
sieur de Kerguelen, the great navigator, lives within
nine miles of me, but a Holland consul has me by the
button, and I cannot see him. The dialect of Bre-
tagne has some resemblance both to the Irish and
Welsh. But, good night ; I must sleep. Tired na-
ture will have it so." From Quimper he proceeded
to L' Orient, where he immediately began to put his
affairs in train.

The letters he brought with him from respectable
sources, procured him a speedy acquaintance with gen-
tlemen of the first character in the place ; and his plan
was received with so much approbation, that within

148 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

twelve days he completed a negotiation with a com-
pany of merchants, and a ship was selected for the in-
tended voyage. Mutual engagements were enter-
ed into by the parties, and everything seemed to
wear the most promising aspect. So unaccustomed
had he been to such good fortune, that he could hard-
ly realize at first the happy issue of events as they
then stood. " I have been so much the sport of ac-
cident," said he, " that I am exceedingly suspicious.
It is true, that in this L' Orient negotiation, I have
guarded every avenue to future disappointment, with
all possible caution ; yet this head I wear, is so much
a dupe to my heart, and at other times my heart is so
bewildered by my head, that in matters of business I
have not much confidence in either." He then speaks
of the point to which the negotiation had been brought,
and adds, " but here comes a hut, — ah, these huts ;
pray Heaven they may not hut the modicum of brains
out of my head, which Morris has left there. The
hut is this. I have arrived so late in the season, that
the merchants have procrastinated the equipment un-
til next summer, and requested me to stay here till
then, allowing me genteelly for that purpose. And
were I but certain, that no cruel misfortune would
eventually happen, I should be quite happy, for present
appearances could not be better. Upon any consider-
ation, it is for my interest to wait the event ; and as I
hourly perceive the folly of repining at a disappointed
wish, or, indeed, of suffering what I may happen to call
misfortune, whether present or anticipated, to meet
any other reception from me, than the most undaunted
which my experience can enable me to meet it with,

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 149

I am determined to sit down, not despondingly, de-
jectedly, or supinely — 'What a vile row of adverbs —
but contemplatively, cheerily, and industriously. It
seems decreed by somewhat, that I shall be driven
about the world in a most untraversable way ; but in
whatever clime I may alight, my ardent desire is, that
the friendship of my friends may greet me well. This
done, I have drunk my cordial, and there is not a richer
in France — and only in America one, which perfumed
the air from M — ■ to Amboy House."

All things being thus arranged to his mind, and hav-
ing nothing to regret but the procrastination of his
voyage, which he perceived to be unavoidable, he re-
solved to spend the winter in L' Orient, and be in
readiness to commence preparations the moment that
the season would admit. It was now October, and
the opinion of the merchants was, that a suitable ves-
sel could not be obtained and properly fitted out before
the succeeding August. Ten months for such an ob-
ject seemed a long period to Ledyard, as well in-
deed they might, but experience had taught him pa-
tience ; and the fair prospects held out by this nego-
tiation, together with the consideration, that, by leav-
ing France at the close of summer, he would pass
round Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean at the most
favorable season, reconciled him to the delay. In the
mean time, being supplied with a liberal income by
the mercantile company mentioned above, he frequent-
ed the best society in L' Orient, to whom his exten-
sive knowledge of the world, his general intelligence,
mipretending manners, and frank and generous tem-
per, always made him acceptable. Nothing occurred

150 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARt).

to interrupt his happiness, or darken his hopes, during
the four months that followed, except occasional re-
flections on the time that had been lost in his fruitless
endeavors, and the glory that others were reaping in
the field of discovery, which he ought to have been
the first to explore.

" I wrote you last," says he, " that a Russian ship
had been sent into that part of the vast Pacific Ocean.
Four nights ago, I saw a Russian gentleman from
Petersburg, who informed me of two ships having
been sent thither. In our yesterday's paper, it is said
that the ship Seahorse, belonging to the English Hud-
son's Bay Company, had made a voyage thither, and
returned well. You see what honorable testimonies
daily transpire to evince, that I am no otherwise the
mad, romantic, dreaming Ledyard, than in the estima-
tion of those who thought me so. The flame of
enterprise, that I kindled in America, terminated in a
flash, that bespoke little foresight or resolution in my
patrons. Perseverance was an effort of understand-
ing, which twelve rich merchants were incapable of
making ; and whether I now succeed or not, the obsta-
cles I have surmounted, to reach my present attain-
ment, infer some small merit, which I do not blush to
own among my private pleasures."

The winter soon passed away, and near the end of
February measures began to be taken for equipping the
vessel for sea. It was intended, that a commission
from the king should be obtained to sail on a voyage
of discovery. Some advantages, it was supposed,
would thus be derived to the mercantile interests of
the voyage, as the vessel would be clothed with a

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 161

public character, and from this circumstance ensure a
greater respect from any foreigners she might fall in
with, as well as enable the owners to claim, in the
name of the King of France, any islands or unknown
regions, that might be actually discovered. A memo-
rial, and other suitable papers, were sent to the king's
ministers, applying for such a privilege, and for letters
of recommendation to the European public agents
residing in those parts of the world, at which the ves-
sel would probably touch. On the twentythird of
February, 1785, Ledyard wrote to his brothers from
L'Orient ; " My affairs in France are likely to prove
of the greatest honor and advantage to me. I have a
fine ship of four hundred tons, and in August next I
expect to sail on another voyage round the world, at
the end of which, if Heaven is propitious to me, I hope
to see you. In the mean time, may the God of nature
spread his mantle over you all. If I never see you
more, it shall be well ; if I do, it shall be well ; so be
happy and of good cheer." From this tone of his
feelings, it is evident that his heart was light, and his
hopes high. Up to this point all things had proceeded
according to his expectations and wishes ; he had
passed an agreeable winter in a social and refined cir-
cle of friends, and he began now to enjoy in anticipa-
tion the triumphs of his zeal and perseverance.

But unfortunately this flattering vision was soon to
be dissipated, like the many others, by which he had
been elated and deceived ; again was he to be made,
in his own phrase, " the sport of accident ; " again
w^as the burden of a cruel disappointment to weigh
on his spirits, and disturb his repose. After the

152 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

date of the above letter, we hear no more of the
L'Orient negotiation, excejDt that it failed. Whether
this result, so desolating to the hopes of our adven-
turer, was produced by the caprice of the merchants,
who had united with him in the undertaking, or
by any sudden change in their affairs, which took
from them the ability of fulfilling their contract, or
by the refusal of the government to grant such a
commission as was expected, or by all these com-
bined, is not known. It is enough, that the voy-
age w^as entirely abandoned, and Ledyard was left
with no other recompense for this new vexation, than
his ow^n mortified feelings, and the prospects of a fu-
ture too gloomy even for him to contemplate unmoved.
The slender stock of money, with which he landed in
Europe, was completely exhausted ; he could expect
no more from the L'Orient merchants, nor from any
other quarter ; and, what afflicted him more severely
than all the rest, the last resort for carrying into effect
his darling plan of northwestern discovery and trade,
had been tried in vain. No consolation remained
for his baffled purposes and wasted zeal. Yet fifteen
years' experience, in buffeting the rough and some-
times perilous current of life, had taught him other
lessons than those of despondency, and nerved him
for other deeds than a tam.e submission to the control
of untoward circumstances. His bewildering doubts,
as to what course he should pursue, detained him a
short time in L'Orient. He looked to Paris as the
theatre, on which he would be most likely to better
his fortunes, and after his concerns relative to the
voyage were closed, he hastened to that capital.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 153

CHAPTER VO.

Meets with Mr Jeiferson at Paris. — Project of a voyage to the Northwest Coast
with Paul Jones, for the purpose of establishing a trading factory there. —
Proposes travelling across the continent from Nootka Sound to the United
States. — Thinks of going to Africa with Mr Lamb. — Remarks on Paris, and
various objects that came under his notice. — The IQng at Versailles. — Mr
Jefferson and Lafayette. — The Queen at St Cloud.— Application through
Baron Grimm to the Empress of Russia, to obtain permission for him to travel
across her dom.inions to Bering's Strait. — Colonel Humphreys. — Contemplates
going to Petersburg, before the Empress' answer is received. — Curious
anecdote of Sir James Hall. — Visit to the hospitals in Paris. — Tour in Nor-
mandy.— Proceeds to London, where he engages a passage on board a vessel
just ready to sail for the Northwest Coast. — Colonel Smith's letter to Mr
Jay. — The voyage defeated. — Resolves anew to go to Russia. — Sir Joseph
Banks and other gentlemen contribute funds to aid him in his travels.

At this time Mr Jeiferson was minister from the
United States at the court of France. That patriot,
equally ardent in the love of science, and friendly to
every enterprise, which had for its object the improve-
ment of his country, received Ledyard with great
kindness, and approved most highly his design of an
expedition to the Northwest Coast of America. He
perceived at once the advantages, that would flow from
such a voyage, not merely in its immediate mercantile
results, but in its bearing on the future commerce and
political interests of the United States. No part of
that wide region had then been explored, nor any
formal possession taken of it, except the few points
at which Cook's vessels had touched, and others
where the Russians possessed small establishments for
the prosecution of the fur trade with the Indians,
These latter were also probably confined to the
20

154 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

islands. To a statesman like Mr Jefferson it was
evident, that a large portion of that immense country,
separated from the United States by no barrier of
nature, would eventually be embraced in their territory.
He was convinced of the propriety, therefore, of its
being explored by a citizen of the United States, and
regretted the failure of Ledyard's attempts in his
own country to engage in a voyage before the same
thing had been meditated anywhere else. These
views were deeply impressed on the mind of Mr
Jefferson, and in them originated the journey of Lewis
and Clark over land to the Pacific Ocean, twenty
years afterwards, which was projected by him, and
prosecuted under his auspices.

Ledyard had not been many days in France, before
he became acquainted with Paul Jones, at that time
acting mider a commission from the Congress of the
United States, to demand the amount of certain prizes,
which he had taken during the war, particularly in the
famous capture of the Serapis and the Countess of
Scarborough, and sent into French ports. This intre-
pid adventurer, being now unemployed in any military
or public service, eagerly seized Ledyard's idea, and
an arrangement was closed, by which thej agreed to
unite in an expedition, on a scale somewhat larger
than Ledyard had before contemplated. Two vessels
were to be fitted out, and, if possible, commissioned
by the king. Jones was to use his influence at court,
to persuade the government to enlist in the enterprise,
or at least to furnish the vessels and the requisite naval
armament. If this could, not be effected, it was re-
solved that the outfits should be reduced within the

LIFE OF JOHN LED YARD. 155

limits of Jones's private means, and the two partners
would act wholly on their own responsibility and risk.
If it should be found necessary to pursue the enter-
prise, on their private account alone, the two vessels
were to proceed in company to the Northwest Coast,
and commence a factory there under the American
flag. The first six months were to be spent in col-
lecting furs, and looking out for a suitable spot to es-
tablish a post, either on the main land, or on an island.
A small stockade was then to be built, in which Led-
yard was to be left with a surgeon, an assistant, and
twenty soldiers ; one of the vessels was to be de-
spatched, with its cargo of furs, under the command of
Paul Jones, to China, while the other was to remain in
order to facilitate the collecting of another cargo during
his absence. Jones was to return with both the vessels
to China, sell their cargoes of furs, load them with
silks and teas, and continue his voyage round the
Cape of Good Hope to Europe, or the United States.
He was then to replenish his vessels with suitable
articles for traffic with the Indians, and proceed as
expeditiously as possible round Cape Horn, to the
point of his departure in the Northern Pacific. Mean-
time Ledyard and his party were to employ themselves
in purchasing furs, cultivating a good understanding
with the natives, and making such discoveries on the
coast, as their situation would allow. Ledyard sup-
posed he should be absent four or five years, and per-
haps six or seven.*

* A voyage from Canton to the Northwest Coast, and back to that
port, for purposes similar to those meditated by Ledyard and Paul

156 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

Here was a scheme, that might give full scope to
the imagination of the two heroes by vvhom it had
been conceived, presenting at once the prospect of
hazard, adventure, fame, and profit. Thej dwelt upon
it with complacency, and so much was Jones taken
with it, that he advanced money to Ledyard with
which to purchase a part of the cargo for the outfit,
even before he had applied to the government for aid,
being determined to prosecute it at his own risk if he
failed in that quarter. But at this moment, his affairs
in regard to the prize-money assumed a crisis, which
compelled him to go from Paris to L'Orient, where
he was detained nearly three months ; and although he
was ultimately successful, yet his zeal for this new
scheme gradually cooled down, as he probably found
that the government would do nothing in the matter,
and that his private fortune was not adequate to so
expensive an undertaking. At any rate, it fell through,
and after four or five months of suspense, Ledyard had
the renewed mortification of another disappointment,
and of seeing his ardent wishes no nearer their accom-
plishment, than when he left L'Orient. The only
advantage he had derived from his intercourse with
the Chevalier, was an allowance of money sufficient
for his maintenance, which Jones had stipulated at
the commencement of the negotiation, and which he
had promptly paid.

Jones, was performed fourteen years afterwards by Captain Richard J.
Cleveland. Whoever would understand the difficulties and dangers of
such an enterprise, at that time, will be pleased with reading- a brief
account of Captain Cleveland's voyage, in the North American Review
for October, ]827. No. 57.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 157

Just at this time Mr Lamb, the diplomatic agent
appointed by the Congress of the United States to
treat with the Dey of Algiers, arrived in Paris. Led-
yard met him occasionally at Mr Jefferson's, took an
interest in his mission, and had serious thoughts of
joining him and going to Africa, but for what specific
purpose is not told. The lingering desire., however,
of still being able to conquer the fatality of circum-
stances, which had hitherto impeded his progress to
glory, in the course his fancy had pictured to him,
continued to sustain him with the hope of a better
turn of fortune, aiid to urge him forward to untried
expedients.

Ill Paris he associated Yv^ith several Americans, who
approved and encouraged his ardor, and whose society
afforded him consolation in the midst of his misfor-
tunes, but who were not in a condition to promote his
wishes, or remove his embarrassments. The question,
what was to be done, which he had so often been
compelled to ask himself, in cases of similar extremity,
now recurred anew, and with as small a prospect as
ever of its being answered in such a manner, as to
lull his apprehensions, or relieve his anxiety. He
determined to adventure one effort more, and submit
the same proposition to a mercantile company in Paris,
which he had done i^ L'Orient. Some progress was
made in an attempt to organize such a company, but
it was never matured. It was his intention, after he
had visited the coastj and procured a full cargo of furs,
to despatch the vessel to China under proper officers,
and return himself across the continent to the United
States, thus accomplishing the double object of a

158 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

lucrative voyage, and a tour of discovery through an
unexplored wilderness of four thousand miles in ex-
tent. Afterwards he would join the expedition in the
company's service, either in France, or any other part
of the world, as circumstances might dictate. Such
was the compass of his desires ; yet he w^ould have
relinquished the idea of this exploratory tour, and re-
joiced to engage in a voyage merely for commercial
ends, if even that could have been effected.

Several months were passed in unavailing efforts to
conquer obstacles, which seemed to thicken as he ad-
vanced, and in vainly striving to enlighten ignorance
and overcome prejudice, till his perseverance could
hold out no longer, and he was forced to abandon the
thought of a voyage by sea to the Northwest Coast,
either for trade or discovery. He continued in Paris,
but felt himself, as he really was, a wanderer without
employment or motive. With Mr Jefferson, the
Marquis de la Fayette, Mr Barclay the American con-
sul, and other gentlemen of character and conse-
quence, he was on terms of intimacy. In this society,
and enjoying the amusements afforded in the capital
of France, his time passed away agreeably enough,
and in some of his letters he speaks of his happiness ;
yet he was far from being satisfied ; he suffered under
the pressure of want and a corrq^ing sense of depen-
dence ; and occasionally his finances were at so low
an ebb, that he was compelled, however reluctantly, to
be a pensioner on the bounty of his friends. So dis-
interested were his aims, however, and so entirely did
he sacrifice every selfish consideration in prosecuting
them ; so benevolent was his disposition, and so en-

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 159

larged his views of serving mankind, that no one con-
sidered favors of this sort in the light of obligations
conferred, nor so much acts of charity, as a just tri-
bute to the singleness of his heart, the generosity of
his purposes, and the effective warmth of his zeal.

A few miscellaneous extracts from his letters, writ-
ten during the first months of his residence in Paris,
may properly come in here. They will give some
insight into his occupations, as well as his habit
of observing events and objects in the great world
around him. -^^

" Paris is situated in an extended plain, rising on
all sides into gradual elevations, and some little hills
happily interspersed in the borders of its horizon. Its
extent, viewed from the tower of Notre Dame, ap-
peared to me less than London, though it must be
larger. The public buildings are numerous, and some
of them magnificent. Paris is the centre of France,
and its centre is the Palais Royal, the resort of the
greatest virtues and the greatest vices of such a king-
dom. It is France in miniature, and no friend to
France should ever see it. The Tuilleries afford a
consummate display of artificial elegance and gran-
deur ; the gardens of the Luxembourg are much in-
ferior. The Boulevards were originally fortifications,
and they now form a broad way that surrounds the
city, separating it from the suburbs. It is well lined
with fine umbrageous elms on each side, forming a
beautiful course for coaches and horsemen ; but the
farmers-general, to prevent illicit trade, are walling it
in, at the expense of a thousand lamentations of the
Parisians, and several millions of livres. I have been

160 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

once at the king's library. Papa Franklin, as the
French here call him, is among a number of statues
that I saw. The bust of Paul Jones is also there.
Did you ever know, that Captain Jones was two or
three nights successively crowned with laurels, at the
great Opera House in Paris, after the action between
the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis ?

" I find at our minister's table between fifteen and
twenty Americans, inclusive of two or three ladies.
It is very remarkable, that we are neither despised nor
envied for our love of liberty, but very often caressed.
I was yesterday at Versailles. It was the feast of St
Louis, but I never feasted so ill in my life, as at the
hotel w^here I dined, and never paid so dear for a din-
ner. I was too late to see the procession of the king
and queen, but I was little disappointed on that ac^
count, as I had already seen those baubles. The
king I saw a fortnight before to very great advantage,
being near to him while he was shooting partridges in
the fields. He was dressed in common musqueto
trowsers, a short linen frock, and an old laced hat
without a cockade. He had an easy, gentlemanly
appearance ; and had it not been for his few attend-
ants, I should have taken him for the captain of a
merchant ship, amusing himself in the field. The
Palace at Versailles, and its gardens, are an ornament
to the face of the globe. It was dirty weather. I
wore boots, and consequently was prohibited from
visiting the galleries. I was in company with our
Mr Barclay, Colonel Franks of the American army, a
young Virginian, and an English sea officer. Franks
was booted too ; but though honest Tom Barclay was

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 161

not, he had no bag on, and they were dismissed also ;
so that boots on, and bags off, are sad recommendations
at the court of Versailles."

" If the two Fitzhughs remain in town a week
longer, you shall have a week's detail. They dine
with me to day in my chamber, together with our
worthy consul Barclay, and that lump of universality,
Colonel Franks. But such a set of moneyless rascals
have never appeared, since the epoch of the happy
villain Falstafif. I have but five French crowns in the
world ; Franks has not a sol ; and the Fitzhughs
cannot get their tobacco money.

" Mr Jefferson is an able minister, and our country
may repose a confidence in him equal to their best
wishes. Whether in public or private, he is in every
word and every action, the representative of a young,
vigorous, and determined state. His only competitors
here, even in political fame, are Vergennes and La
Fayette. In other accomplishments he stands alone.
The Marquis de la Fayette is one of the most growing
characters in this kingdom. He has planted a tree in
America, and sits under its shade at Versailles. He
is now at the court of old Frederick. I am sure, that
you could not yourself have manifested more alacrity
to serve me, than he has done. The Marquis is a
warm friend to America. It will be difficult for any
subsequent plenipotentiary to have as much personal
influence in France, as Dr Franklin had ; it will at
least be so, till the causes, which created that venerable
patriot's ascendency, shall become less recent in the
minds of the people. I had the pleasure of being but
once at his house, before his departure, and although
21

162 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

bent down with age and infirmities, the excellent old
man exhibited all the good cheer of health, the gay
philosopher, and the kindness of a friendly coun-
v^ryman."

" It has been a holiday to day ; the nativity of the
Virgin Mary. My friend, the Abbe D'Aubrey, tells
me, that they have but eightytwo holidays in the year,
which are publicly regarded ; but this is a mistake ;
they have more. We both agree, that they have
eightytwo less than they formerly had. There are
certainly a hundred days in this city every year,
whereon all the shops are shut, and there is a general
suspension of business ; for the good policy of which,
let them look to it. You will hear in your papers of an
affair, between a certain Cardinal and the Queen of
France. It has been the topic of conversation here
for thirty days ; and forty fools, that have expressed
themselves too freely in the matter for the police, are
already in the Bastile. We have news to day, that
the king will have him tried by the Parliament, and
has written to that dying meteor, the Pope, not to
meddle in the business."

" I was late home yesterday evening from the feast
of St Cloud, held at a little town of that name on
the bank of the Seine. It is particularly remarkable
for having the Queen's Gardens in it, and a house
for the Queen, called a Palace. The chief circum-
stance, which renders the village a place of curiosity
to strangers, is the waterworks, which, after the labor
of many years and vast expense, exhibit a sickly cas-
cade, and thvee jets d?eau, or fountains, that cast water
into the air. The largest of these throws out a col-

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 163

umn as big as a man's arm, which rises about thirty
yards. In the evening I entered a part of the gardens,
where some fireworks were played off. The tickets
were twentyfonr sols. The fireworks were very few,
but good. This little rustic entertainment of the
Queen's, was with great propriety attended with very
little parade about her person. It was a mere rural
revel, and never before did I see majesty and tag-rag
so philosophically blended ; a few country fiddlers
scraping, and Kate of the mill tripping it with Dick
of the vineyard.

"^ Thus you see how some few of my days pass^
away. I See a great deal, and think a great deal, but
derive little pleasure from either, because I am forced
into both, and am alone in both."

By these methods he endeavored to amuse himself,
and forget his favorite scheme of traversing the west-
ern continent, and ascertaining its physical character
and commercial resources ; but this was not possible ;
it had taken too strong a hold of him to admit of
being driven altogether from his mind. As fate seem-
ed to throw difficulties insurmountable in the way of
a passage by sea, he bethought himself of the only
remaining expedient, by which a part of his original
design might be carried into execution ; and that W'as,
to travel by land through the northern regions of
Europe and Asia, cross over Bering's Strait to the
American continent, and pursue his route thence down
the coast, and to the interior, in such a manner as the
exigencies of his condition might point out to him
when on the spot.

164 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

The first object requiring attention, was to gain
ipermission of the Empress of Russia to pass through
her immense territories to Kamtschatka. Mr Jeffer-
son, who heartily approved the project, interested
himself in this preliminary measure, and applied to
M. de Simoulin, minister plenipotentiary from Russia
at the court of France, and especially to the Baron de
Grimm, minister from Saxe-Gotha at the same court.
Grimm was a correspondent and private agent of the
Empress, and would be likely to have as much influ-
ence with her in a matter of this sort, as her public
minister. Both these gentlemen very readily acceded
to Mr Jefferson's request, and made in his name a
direct application to the Empress, soliciting permis-
sion for Ledyard, in the character of an American
citizen, to travel through her dominions. As haste is
not a characteristic of transactions of this sort with
crowned heads, the impatient traveller resolved to
busy himself in the best manner he could, at least till
a reasonable time should elapse for a reply. In the
interim he retired to St Germain, where he after-
wards commonly resided during his stay in France.
The letter, which contains the following passages, is
dated at St Germain, on the eighth of April, 1786.

" If Congress should yet be at New York, this will be
delivered to you by my friend, and almost every body's
friend. Colonel Humphreys, whom you knevi^ in days
of yore. He is secretary to our legation at the court
of France, has a good head and a good heart ; but his
hobby is poetry, and as the English reviewers allow him
merit therein, I may very safely venture to do it. He is
a friendly, good soul, a sincere yankee, and so affection-

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 165

ately fond of his country, that to be in his society here
is at least as good to me, as a dream of being at home.
I imagine he takes despatches, but as we are republi-
cans a little more polished, than on your side of the
water, we never presume to ask impertinent questions.
" You have doubtless by this time received my let-
ters by Mr Barrett. Your hearing from me so often
by those, who intimately know my situation, and who
are so much my friends, is a happy circumstance ; bat
I would freely have relinquished the pleasure, which I
take in writing this letter, to have been where I sup-
posed I should be when I wrote you last. But soon
after the departure of Mr Barrett, our minister, the
Russian minister, and the Marquis de la Fayette, took
it into their heads, that I should not go directly to
Petersburg, but wait till I was sent for, which is the
occasion of my being here to write you at this time.
You see that I have so many friends, that I cannot do
just as I please. I am very well in health. A gra-
cious Providence, and the Indian corn diet of my
childhood, added to the robust scenes I have since
passed through, have left me at the same age at
which my father died, ' healthy, active, vigorous, and
strong.' * I am for a few weeks at the little town
where my letter is dated, and as I live upon the skirt
of a royal forest, I am every day in it, and it is usual
for me to run two miles an end and return. I am like
one of Swift's Houyhnhnms. Ask Humphreys if I
did not walk into Paris last week, and return to dine
with Madam Barclay the same morning, a distance

* A line from his father's tombstone ; he died at the age of thirt)^ve.

166 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

equal at least to twentyfour of our miles. But this is
not the work of nature ; she made me a voluptuous,
pensive animal, intended for the tranquil scenes of
domestic life, for ease and contemplation, and a thou-
sand other fine soft matters, that I have thought
nothing about, since I was in love with R. E. of Ston-
ington. What fate intends further, I leave to fate ;
but it is very certain, that there has ever been a great
difference between the manner of life I have actually
led, and that which I should have chosen ; and this is
not to be attributed more, perhaps, to the irregular in-
cidents that have alternately caressed and insulted
me, than to the irregularity of my genius. Tom
Barclay, our consul, who knows mankind and me very
w^ell, tells me that he never saw such a medley as in
me. The Virginian gentlemen here call me Oliver
Cromwell, and say, that, like him, I shall be ' damn'd
to fame ; ' but I have never dared to prophesy, how-
ever, that it would be by a Virginian poet.

" I every hour expect my summons to Peters-
burg from the Russian minister. I shall have a de-
lightful season to pass through Germany, though it
does not suit my tour well. I shall lose a season
by it. I am not certain about the result of this busi-
ness, and shall not be perfectly at ease, till I have been
introduced to the Empress."

From a remark above, it may be inferred, that
Ledyard wished to begin his journey to Petersburg
before any intelligence had been received by the
Russian minister in reply to his application. His
principal motive doubtless was, that he might take
advantage of the season, and reach Siberia so far in

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 167

anticipation of the severest parts of the winter, as not
to be blocked up for several months by the snows in
that frigid region. His advisers considered such a step
ill judged, inasmuch as a formal petition had been sent
to the Empress, and it would evince a want of proper
respect to set out on the journey, before her answer
had been returned, however strong might be the prob-
ability that her consent would be granted. These
points of etiquette were overlooked by the traveller,
in his eagerness to be on the road, and he moreover
thought the business might as well be settled at the
court of the Empress in Petersburg, as through
her minister in Paris. The event proved his impres-
sions not to be ill founded. His forebodings were
verified, for he was kept in daily expectation for more
than five months, without receiving an answer, or
hearing anything on the subject either from M. de
Simoulin, or the Baron de Grimm. His last letter
from France is a very long one, dated at St Germain,
the eighth of August, 1786. It touches on a great
variety of topics, and was written at different times.

" Since I wrote to you by Colonel Humphreys,"
says he to his friend, " I have been at St Germain,
waiting the issue of my affair at Petersburg. You
wonder by what means I exist, having brought with
me to Paris this time twelve months only three
louis d'ors. Ask vice-consuls, consuls, ministers, and
plenipotentiaries, all of whom have been tributary to
me. You think I joke. No ; upon my honor, and,
however irreconcileable to my temper, disposition,
and education, it is nevertheless strictly true. Every
day of my life, my dear cousin, is a day of expectation.

168 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

and consequently a day of disappointment. Whether
I shall have a morsel of bread to eat at the end of
two months, is as much an uncertainty, as it was four-
teen months ago, and not more so. The near ap-
proach, that I have so often made to each extreme of
happiness and distress, without absolutely entering
into either, has rendered me so hardy, that I can meet
either with composure.

"Permit me to relate to you an incident. About a
fortnight ago, Sir James Hall, an English gentleman,
on his way from Paris to Cherbourg, stopped his
coach at our door, and came up to my chamber. I
was in bed at six o'clock in the morning, but having
flung on my rohe de chambre, I met him at the door
of the antechamber. I was glad to see him, but sur-
prised. He observed, that he had endeavored to make
up his opinion of me, with as much exactness as possi-
ble, and concluded that no kind of visit whatever
would surprise me. I could do no otherwise than
remark, that his opinion surprised me at least, and the
conversation took another turn. In W'alking across the
chamber, he laughingly put his hand on a six livre
piece and a louis d'or, that lay on my table, and with
a half stifled blush, asked me how I was in the money
w^ay. Blushes commonly beget blushes, and I blushed
partly because he did, and partly on other accounts.
' If fifteen guineas,' said he, interrupting the answer
he had demanded, 'will be of any service to you,
there they are,' and he put them on the table. ' I am
a traveller myself, and though \ have some fortune to
support my travels, yet I have been so situated as
to want money, which you ought not to do. You

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 169

have my address in London.' He then wished me a
good morning and left me. This gentleman was a
total stranger to the situation of my finances, and one
that I had by mere accident met at an ordinary in
Paris. We had conversed together several times, and
he once sent his carriage for me to dine with him. I
found him handsomely lodged in the best Fauxbourg
in the city. Two members of the British House of
Commons, two lords, Beaumarchais, and several
members of the Royal Academy, were at his table.
He had seen me two or three times after that, and
always expressed the highest opinion of the tour I had
determined to make, and said he would, as a citizen
of the world, do anything in his power to promote
it ; but I had no more idea of receiving money from
him, than I have this moment of receiving it from Tip-
poo Saib. However, I took it without any hesitation,
and told him I would be as complaisant to him, if ever
occasion offered."

" I have once visited the Foundling Hospital, and
the Hospital de Dieu, in Paris ; twice 1 never shall.
Not all the morality from Confucius to Addison could
give me such feelings. Eighteen foundlings were
brought the day of my visit. One was brought in while
I was there. Dear little innocents ! But you are,
happily, insensible of your situations. Where are your
unfortunate mothers ? Perhaps in the adjoining" hos-
pital ; they have to feel for you and themselves too.
But where is the wretch, the villain, the monster — ?
I was not six minutes in the house. It is customary to
leave a few pence ; I flung down six livres and retired.
Determined to persevere, I continued my visit over

170 LIFE OF JOHN LED YARD.

the way to the Hospital de Dieu. I entered first the
apartments of the women. Why will you, my dear
sisters, I was going to say as I passed along between
the beds in ranks, why will you be — but I was inter-
rupted by a melancholy figure, that appeared at its
last gasp, or already dead. ' She 's dead,' said I to a
German gentleman, who was with me, ' and nobody
knows or cares anything about it.' We approached
the bedside. I observed a slight undulatory motion in
one of the jugular arteries. 'She 's not dead,' said I,
and siezed her hand to search for her pulse. I hoped
to find life, but it was gone. The word dead being
again pronounced, brought the nuns to the bed. ' My
God ! ' exclaimed the head nun, ' she 's dead ; ' —
' Jesu, Maria ! ' exclaimed the other nuns, in their de-
fence, ' she 's dead.' The head, nun scolded the others
for their mal-attendance. ' My God ! ' continued she,
' she is dead without the form.' ' Dieu ! ' said the others,
' she died so silently.' ' Silence,' said the elder, ' per-
haps she is not dead; say the form.' The form was
said, and the sheet thrown over her face."

" While in Normandy 1 was at the seat of Conflans,
the successor of him, who was so unfortunate in a
naval affair with Hawke of England. It is the lord-
ship of the manor. The peasants live and die at the
smiles or frowns of their lord, and, avaricious of the
former, they fly to communicate to him any uncommon
occurrence in the village ; and such they thought our
arrival. The place, to be sure, is very remote, and
the gentleman I accompanied, who was an English-
man, rode in a superb manner. His coach and ser-
vants were in a very elegant style. M. Conflans was

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 171

informed of it. On that day it was my turn to cater,
and the little country taverns in France are such, as
oblige one to cook for himself, if he would eat. I was
consequently very busy in the kitchen. The Otaheite
marks on my hands were discovered ; the mistress
and the maids asked our servants the history of so
strange a sight. They were answered that I was a
gentleman, who had been round the world. It was
enough ; Conflans knew of it, and sent a billet, written
in good English, to inquire if we would permit him the
honor of seeing us at his mansion ; and, if he could be
thus distinguished, he would come and wait on us
thither himself. It was too late ; the Englishman
and I had begun pell-mell upon a joint of roast. If
Jove himself had sent a card by Blanchard inviting us,
it would have been all one. We would honor our-
selves with waiting on the Marquis de Conflans in the
evening. We did so, and we could not but be pleased
with the reception we met with ; it was in the true
character of a French nobleman."

" I took a walk to Paris this morning, and saw the
Marquis de la Fayette. He is a good man, this same
Marquis. I esteem him, and even love him, and so we
all do, except some few, who worship him. I make
these trips to Paris often ; sometimes to dine with
this amiable Frenchman, and sometimes with our
minister, who is a brother to me. I am too much
alive to care and ambition to sit still. The unprofita-
ble life I have led goads me ; I would willingly crowd
as much merit as possible into the autumn and winter
of it. Like Milton's hero in Paradise Lost, (who
happens, by the way, to be the evil one himself,) it be-
hoves me now to use both oar and sail to gain my port.

172 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

" The Paris papers of to day announce the discov-
ery of some valuable gold mines in Montgomery
county, Virginia, which I rejoice to hear ; but I hope
they will not yield too much of it, for, as Poor Rich-
ard says, ' too much of one thing is good for noth-
ing.' All that I can say is, that, if too much of it is
as bad as too little^ the Lord help you, as he has me,
who, in spite of my poverty, am hearty and cheerful.
I die with anxiety to be on the back of the American
States, after having either come from or penetrated to
the Pacific ocean. There is an extensive field for the
acquirement of honest fame. A blush of generous
regret sits on my cheek, when I hear of any discovery
there, which I have had no part in, and particularly at
this auspicious period. The American Revolution in-
vites to a thorough discovery of the continent, and the
honor of doing it would become a foreigner, but a
native only can feel the genuine pleasure of the
achievement. It was necessary, that a European
should discover the existence of that continent, but,
in the name of Amor Patrice^ let a native explore its
resources and boundaries. It is my wish to be the
man. I will not yet resign that wish, nor my preten-
sions to that distinction. Farewell for the present.
I have just received intelligence, which hurries me to
London. What fate intends is always a secret ; forti-
tude is the word. I leave this letter with my brother
and my father, our minister. He will send it by the
first conveyance. Adieu."

The intelligence here alluded to, was from his ec-
centric friend. Sir James Hall, who had returned to
London. In six days Ledyard was with him in the

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 173

British capital. He there found an English ship in
complete readiness to sail for the Pacific ocean. Sir
James Hall introduced him to the owners, who imme-
diately offered him a free passage in the vessel, with
the promise, that he should be set on shore at any
place on the Northwest Coast, which he might choose.
The merchants, no doubt, hoped to profit somewhat
by his knowledge and experience, and he could not
object to such an exchange, as these were his only
possessions. One of Cook's officers was also going
out in the same vessel. The day before he was to go
on board, Ledyard wrote to Mr Jefferson in the follow-
ing animated strain.

" Sir James Hall presented me with twenty guineas
pro hono publico. I bought two great dogs, an Indian
pipe, and a hatchet. My want of time, as well as
of money, will prevent my going any otherwise than
indifferently equipped for such an enterprise ; but it is
certain, that I shall be more in want before I see Vir-
ginia. Why should I repine ? You know how much
I owe the amiable la Fayette. Will you do me the
honor to present my most grateful thanks to him ? If
I find in my travels a mountain, as much elevated
above other mountains, as he is above ordinary men, I
will name it La Fayette. I beg the honor, also, of my
compliments to Mr Short, who has been my friend,
and who, like the good widow in Scripture, cast in
not only his mite, but more than he was able, for my
assistance."

The equipment of two dogs, an Indian pipe, and a
hatchet, it must be confessed, was very scanty for a
journey across a continent, but they were selected

174 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

with an eye to their uses. The dogs would be his
companions, and assist him in taking wild animals for
food, the pipe was an emblem of peace to the Indians,
and the hatchet would serve many purposes of conve-
nience and utility. His choice could not have fallen,
perhaps, upon three more essential requisites for a
solitary traveller among savages and wild beasts ; they
would enable him to provide for his defence, and pro-
cure a friendly reception, covering, and sustenance.
All these were necessary, and must be the first objects
of his care.

His plan was fully arranged before entering the ship.
He determined to land at Nootka Sound, where he
had passed some time with Cook's expedition, and
thence strike directly into the interior, and pursue his
course as fortune should guide him to Virginia. By
his calculation, the voyage and tour would take him
about three years. He was much gratified with the
reception he met in London, and particularly from Sir
Joseph Banks, and some other gentlemen of science,
who entered warmly into his designs. It was believ-
ed, that his discoveries would not fail to add valuable
improvements to geography and natural history ; and
there was a romantic daring in the enterprise itself,
well suited to gain the applause of ardent and liberal
minds. Thus encouraged, his enthusiasm rose higher
than ever, and his impatience to embark increased
every moment.

While in Paris the preceeding year, he had become
acquainted with Colonel Smith, Secretary of Legation
to Mr Adams, at that time American minister in Lon-
don. Colonel Smith befriended him after his arrival

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD, 175

in England, and, conceiving the journey he was about
to undertake, as promising to be highly important to
America, he wrote an account of it to Mr Jay, then
Secretary of Foreign Affairs in the United States.
After a few remarks relative to Ledyard's previous at-
tempts and objects. Colonel Smith proceeds ;

" In consequence of some allurements from an Eng-
lish nobleman at Paris, he came here with the inten-
tion of exploring the Northwest Coast and country ;
and a vessel being on the point of sailing for that
coast, after supplying himself with a few necessary
articles for his voyage and march, he procured a pas-
sage with a promise from the captain to land him on
the western coast, from which he means to attempt
a march through the Indian nations to the back parts
of the Atlantic states, for the purpose of examining
the country and its inhabitants ; and he expects to be
able to make his way through, possessed of such infor-
mation of the country and people, as will be of great
advantage to ours. This remains to be proved. It is
a daring, wild attempt. Determined to pursue the
object, he embarked the last week, free and independ-
ent of the world, pursuing his plan unembarrassed by
contract or obligation. If he succeeds, and in the
course of two or three years should visit our country
by this amazing circuit, he may bring with him some
interesting information. If he fails, and is never heard
of more, which I think most probable, there is no harm
done. He dies in an unknown country, and if he
composes himself in his last moments with the reflec-
tion, that his project was great, and the undertaking
what few men are capable of, it will to his mind soothe

176 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

the passage. He is perfectly calculated for the at-
tempt, robust and healthy, and has an humense pas-
sion to make discoveries, which will benefit society,
and ensure him, agreeably to his own expression, ' a
small degree of honest fame.' It may not be improper
for your excellency to be acquainted with these cir-
cumstances, and you are the best judge of the propriety
of extending them further."

The vessel went down the Thames from Deptford,
and in a few days put to sea. Ledyard thought it the
happiest moment of his life. But alas ! how uncertain
are human expectations. Again was he doomed to
suffer the agonies of a disappointment more severe
than any that had preceded, because never before
were his wishes so near their consummation. He
looked upon the great obstacles as overcome, and re-
garded himself as beyond the reach of fortune's
caprice. This delusion soon vanished. The vessel
was not out of sight of land, before it was brought
back by an order from the government, and the voyage
was finally broken off. He went back to London, as
may be supposed, with a heavy heart. A month after-
wards he wrote to Dr Ledyard,

" I am still the slave of fortune, and the son of
care. You will be surprised that I am yet in London,
unless you will conclude with me, that, after what has
happened, nothing can be surprising. I think my last
letter informed you, that I was absolutely embarked
on board a ship in the Thames, bound to the Northwest
Coast of America. This will inform you, that I have
disembarked from said ship, on account of her having
been unfortunately seized by the customhouse, and

JLIFE OF JOHN LED YARD. 177

eventually exchequered ; and that I am obliged in con-
sequence to alter my route ; and, in short, everything,
all my little baggage—shield, buckler, lance, dogs,
squire, — and all gone. I only am left ; — left to what ?
To some riddle, I'll warrant you ; or, at all events, I
will not warrant anything else. My heart is too much
troubled at this moment to write you as I ought to do.
I will only add, that I am going in a few days to make
the tour of the globe from London east on foot. I
dare not write you more, nor introduce you to the real
state of my affairs. Farewell. Fortitude ! Adieu."
By this it will be seen, that his Siberian project was
again revived ; and, in fact, a subscription to aid him
in this object had already been commenced in London,
under the patronage of Sir Joseph Banks, Dr Hunter,
Sk James Hall, and Colonel Smith. " I fear my
subscription will be small," he says, in a letter to Mr
Jefferson ; "it adds to my anxiety to reach those
dominions, where I shall not want money. I do not
mean the dominions, that may be beyond death. 1 shall
never wish to die while you and the Marquis are alive.
I am goij^ig across Siberia, as I before intended." The
amount collected by his friends is not mentioned, but
it was such, as to induce him to set out upon the jour-
ney; which, indeed, he probably would have done,
had he obtained no money at all. He had lived too
long by expedients to be stopped in his career, by an
obstacle so trifling in his imagination as the want of
money, and he was panting to get into a country,
where its use was unknown, and where of course the
want of it would not be felt.
23

178 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

CHAPTER VIII.

Ledyard proceeds to Hamburg . — Goes to Copenhagen, where he meets Major
Langhorn, another American traveller. — Endeavors to persuade Langhorn to
accompany him on his tour, but in vain. — Continues his route to Sweden, and
is disappointed in not being able to cross the Gulf of Bothnia on the ice. —
Journey round the Gulf into the Arctic Circle on foot, through Sweden, Lap-
land, and Finland. — Maupertuis' description of the cold at Tornea. — Arrives
at Petersburg, where he is befriended by Professor Pallas and others. — Pro-
cures a passport from the Empress, through the agency of Count Segur, the
French ambassador. — Sets out for Siberia, and travels by way of Moscow to
Kazan, a town on the river Wolga. — Crosses the Ui-alian Mountains. — Some
account of the city of Tobolsk. — Proceeds to Barnaoul and Tomsk. — ^Descrip-
tions of the country and the inhabitants. — Character and condition of the
exiles at Tomsk. — Fossil Bones, — Curious mounds and tombs of the ancient
natives. — Arrives at Irkutsk.

Leaving London in December, Ledyard went over
to Hamburg, whence he immediately wrote to Colonel
Smith. From the account of his finances contained
in that letter, it would not seem that he was encum-
bered, at his departure from England, with a heavy
purse. He makes no complaint however ; on the
contrary, he expresses only joy, that the journey, which
he had so long desired, was actually begun.

" I am here," he says, " with ten guineas exactly,
and in perfect health. One of my dogs is no more.
I lost him on my passage up the river Elbe to Ham-
burg, in a snow storm. I was out in it forty hours in
an open boat. My other faithful companion is under
the table on which I write. I dined to day with
Madam Parish, lady of the gentleman I mentioned to
you. It is a Scotch house of the first commercial dis-
tinction here. The Scotch have by nature a dignity
of sentiment, that renders them accomplished. I

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 179

could go to heaven with Madam Parish, but she had
some people at her table, that I could not go to heaven
with. I cannot submit to a haughty eccentricity of
manners. My fate has sent me to the tavern, where
Major Langhorn was three weeks. He is now at Co-
penhagen, having left his baggage here to be sent on
to him. By some mistake he has not received it, and
has written to the master of the hotel on the subject.
I shall write to him, and give him my address at
Petersburg. I should wish to see him at all events,
but to have him accompany me on my voyage would
be a pleasure indeed."

This Major Langhorn turns out to be an American
officer, lately arrived in Hamburg from Newcastle,
" a very good kind of a man, and an odd kind of a
man," as the master of the hotel called him, one who
had travelled much, and was fond of travelling in his
own way. He had gone off to Copenhagen without
his baggage, taking with him only one spare shirt, and
very few other articles of clothing. It does not ap-
pear, that Ledyard had ever been acquainted with
Langhorn, or even seen him ; but he had heard such a
description of him from Colonel Smith, and others, that
in fancy he had become enamored of the originality and
romantic turn of his character, and particularly of his
passion for travelling. Carried away with this whim-
sical prepossession, he had got it into his head, that
Langhorn was the fittest man in the world to be the
companion of his travels. An imaginary resemblance
between their pursuits, condition, and the bent of their
genius, created a sympathy, that was not to be resist-
ed. He moreover suspected from hints, which he saw

180 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

in Langhorn's letter, inquiring about his trunk, that
he was in want of money. Here was another appeal
to his generosity, and one which he could never suffer
to be made in vain, when he had ten guineas in his
pocket. " 1 will fly to him with my little all, and
some clothes, and lay them at his feet. At this
moment I may be useful to him ; he is my country-
man, a gentleman, a traveller. He may go with me
on my journey; if he does, I am blessed; if not, I
shall merit his attention, and shall not be much out of
my way to Petersburg."

With this state of his feelings it is not wonderful,
that we should next hear from him at Copenhagen.
He hastened on to that city, and arrived there about
the first of January, 1787, although it was taking him
far aside from his direct course, and exposing him to
all the fatigues and perils of a long, tedious winter
passage through Sweden and Finland. He found
Langhorn in a very awkward situation, without money
or friends, and shut up in his room for the want of
decent apparel to appear abroad in ; and, what was
wors(», incurring the suspicions of those around him,
that he was some vagabond, or desperate charac-
ter, whose conduct had rendered it expedient for him
to keep out of sight. Imagination only can paint the
joy, that glowed in our traveller's countenance, when
he saw the remains of his ten guineas slip from his
fingers, to relieve the distresses of his new found
friend. All that could now be said of them was,
that their poverty was equalized; the Major could
walk abroad, and his benefactor had not means to
carry him beyond the bounds of the city. The road

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 181

to Petersburg was many hundred miles long, through
snows, and over ice, and presenting obstacles enough
at that season to appal the stoutest heart, even with all
the facilities for travelling, which gold could purchase.
What then was the prospect for a moneyless pedes-
trian ?

These reflections were not suffered to intrude upon
the pleasures of the moment. His money was gone,
it was true, but a worthy man, and a traveller, had
been made happier by it. How he should advance
further was a thing to be thought of tomorrow, yet
the doubt never came into his mind, that anything
could stop him, when the time should arrive for him to
move forward. Neither confidence nor fortitude ever
forsook him. Two weeks were agreeably passed in
the society of Langhorn, but no inducements could
prevail on him to undertake the Siberian tour, much
less to hazard the dangerous experiment of entrusting
himself among the wild barbarians of North America.
His humor was not of this sort, yet it was scarcely
less peculiar, than if it had been. " I see in him,"
says Ledyard to Colonel Smith, " the soldier, the
countryman, and the generous friend ; but he would
hang me if he knew I had written a word about him ;
and so I will say no more, than just to inform you,
that he means to wander this winter through Norway,
Swedish Lapland, and Sweden ; and in the spring to
visit Petersburg. I asked to attend him through this
route to Petersburg ; — ' No ; I esteem you, but I can
travel in the way I do with no man on earth.' " After
this avowal, the Major certainly merits the praise of
frankness, if not of compliance ; and Ledyard must

182 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

have possessed a larger share of practical philosophy,
than falls to the lot of most men, to have been per-
fectly reconciled to this abrupt declaration, after com-
ing so far out of his way, and spending much time and
all his money in search of a companion, who he fondly
hoped would participate in his adventures.

When this visit of friendship was closed, and the
hour of departure approached, the necessity was press-
ed upon him of looking about for money. He drew a
small bill on Colonel Smith, and good fortune put in
his way a merchant, who consented to accept it, and
pay him the amount. " Thompson's goodness to
me," he writes to Colonel Smith, " in accepting the
bill on you, relying on my honor, has saved me from
perdition, and will enable me to reach Petersburg."
A small sum, to meet such an exigency, had been left
in Colonel Smith's hands, but not to the full amount of
the draft. Ledyard apologizes for the addition, and
tells his friend, that he must put it to the account of
charity, for his necessities only had compelled him to
overdraw. The draft was kindly accepted by Colonel
Smith, when it came to hand. Thus replenished, our
traveller parted from the eccentric Major, crossed over
into Sweden, and arrived in Stockholm towards the
end of January.*

* Langhorn pursued his route, as he had proposed, wandering over
Sweden, Norway, and Lapland. The summer following he arrived in
Tornea, at the proper season for witnessing the sight, which has drawn
other travellers to that place. Tornea is but a few miles south of the
Arctic Circle, and at the time of the summer solstice the sun appears
above the horizon, as observed by Maupertuis, " for several days to-
gether without setting." Travellers are then favored with what is

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 183

The common mode of travelling from Stockholm to
Petersburg in the summer season, is to cross the Gulf
of Bothnia to Abo in Finland by water, touching at
the isles of Aland on the passage. In winter the
same route is pursued, when the sea is frozen so hard
as to admit of sledges being drawn from one island to
another on the ice. The greatest distance to be pass-
ed over in this manner, without touching land, is
about thirty miles. Under the most favorable circum-
stances this passage is troublesome and dangerous. It
is well described by Acerbi. " My astonishment was
greatly increased," says he, " in proportion as we ad-
vanced from our starting post. The sea, at first
smooth and even, became more and more rough and
unequal. It assumed, as we proceeded, an undulating
appearance, resembling the waves by which it had
been agitated. At length we met with masses of ice

called " a view of the sun at midnight." Acerbi was there in 1799, and
he mentions Langhorn. In the church of Jukasjeroi, a town at some
distance to the north of Tornea, and the Ultima Thule of travellers in
that direction, there is a book in which are written the names of visit-
ers, with such remarks as their humor prompted them to indite.
These are copied into Acerbi's Travels, amounting to only seven in
number. The first record was by Regnard, on the 18th of August,
1681. The following is a literal transcript of another. " Justice bids
me record thy hospitable fame, and testify it by my name. W. Lang-
horn, United States. July 23d, 1787." This was six months after
Ledyard left him in Copenhagen. Acerbi says he v/as travelling on
foot from Norway to Archangel.

There is another record in the Album of Jukasjeroi, entered by a
character noted for his singularities, and his passion for rambling, and
who is still remembered in the United States, as well as in many other
parts of the world, by the name of the Walking Steivart. " Non mihi
fama, sed hospitalitatis et gratitudinis testimonium. S. Stewart, Civis
Orbis. 30 Julii, 1787."

184 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

heaped one upon the other, and some of them seem-
ing as if they were suspended in the air, while others
were raised in the form of pyramids. On the whole,
they exhibited a picture of the wildest and most
savage confusion, that surprised the eye by the novelty
of its appearance. It was an immense chaos of icy
ruins, presented to view under every possible form,
and embellished by superb stalactites of a blue green
color." Over this rough surface, and between the
broken waves of ice, the passengers are drawn in
sledges, muffled up in wolf skins and other furs. The
chief danger consists in the sledges being repeatedly
upset, and the horses sometimes taking fright, and
running away like wild deer. Acerbi had a serious
adventure of this sort, but he luckily escaped without
harm, as he did from many other adventures, which
awaited him in his travels to the North Cape.

This is the method of crossing the Gulf of Bothnia
in common seasons, but there is occasionally an open
winter, when it is impassable, either by water or on
the ice, for if the passage does not freeze entirely over,
the water contains so much floating ice, that no vessel
can sail through it. When this happens, the only way
of going to Petersburg is around the Gulf, a distance
of twelve hundred miles, over trackless snows, in
regions thinly peopled, where the nights are long
and the cold intense, and all this to gain no more than
fifty miles.

Such was unfortunately the condition of the ice,
when Ledyard arrived at the usual place of crossing.
It had not been frozen solid from the beginning of the
winter, and no traveller could pass. Of all his dis-

LIFE OF JOHN LEDTARD. 185

appointments, none had afflicted him more severely
than this. The only alternative was, either to stay
in Stockholm till the spring should open, or to go
around the Gulf into Lapland, and seek his way from
the Arctic Circle to Petersburg, through the whole ex-
tent of Finland ; and in either case he foresaw, that
he should arrive so late in Russia, that another season
would be wasted in Siberia, before he could cross
to the American continent. The single circumstance,
therefore, of the passage to Abo being thus obstructed,
was likely to keep him back a full year from the at-
tainment of his grand object. But he did not delibe-
rate long. He could not endure inactivity, and new
difficulties nerved him with new strength to encounter
and subdue them. He set out for Tornea in the heart
of winter, afoot and alone, without money or friends,
on a road almost unfrequented at that frightful season,
and with the gloomy certainty resting on his mind,
that he must travel northward six hundred miles, be-
fore he could turn his steps towards a milder climate,
and then six or seven hundred more in descending to
Petersburg, on the other side of the Gulf.

When Maupertuis and his companions were about
leaving Stockholm, on their journey to Tornea, for the
purpose of measuring a degree of the meridian under
the Polar Circle, the King of Sweden told them, that
" it was not without sensible concern, that he saw
them pursue so desperate an undertaking ; " yet they
were prepared with every possible convenience for
travelling, and protection against the rigors of a north-
ern winter. A better idea of the degree and effects
of cold, at the head of the Gulf, cannot be formed,
24

186 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

perhaps, than from Maupertuis' description. " The
town of Tornea, at our arrival on the thirtieth of
December, had really a most frightful aspect. Its
little houses were buried to the tops in snow, which,
if there had been any daylight, must have effectually
shut it out. But the snows continually falling, or
ready to fall, for the most part hid the sun the few
moments, that he might have showed himself at mid-
day. In the month of January the cold was increased
to that extremity, that Reaumur's mercurial ther-
mometers, which in Paris, in the great frost of 1709,
it was thought strange to see fall to fourteen degrees
below the freezing point, were now down to thirty-
seven. The spirit of wine in the others was frozen.
If we opened the door of a warm room, the external
air instantly converted all the air in it into snow,
whirling it round in white vortexes. If we Avent
abroad, w^e felt as if the air were tearing our breasts in
pieces. And the cracking of the wood whereof the
houses are built, as if the violence of the cold split it,
continually alarmed us with an approaching increase
of cold. The solitude of the streets was no less, than
if the inhabitants had been all dead ; and in this
country you may often see people that have been
maimed, and had an arm or a leg frozen off. The
cold, which is always very great, increases sometimes
by such violent and sudden fits, as are almost infallibly
fatal to those, that happen to be exposed to it. Some-
times there arise sudden tempests of snow, that are
still more dangerous. The winds seem to blow from
all quarters at once, and drive about the snow with
such furv, that in a moment all the roads are lost.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 187

Unhappy he, who is seized by such a storm in the
fields. His acquaintance with the country, or the
marks he may have taken by the trees, cannot avail
him. He is blinded by the snow, and lost if he stirs
but a step."*

These were the scenes, that awaited our pedestrian
in his winter excursion to the Polar Circle. How far
they were realized by him must be now left to conjec-
ture. No part of his journal during this tour has been
preserved, nor is it known what course he took from
Tornea to Petersburg. The common route is along
the border of the Gulf to Abo, but in winter the road
is much obstructed by ice, and is extremely bad.
Linnaeus passed it in September, when returning from
his scientific tour to Lapland, and he estimates the
distance from Tornea to Abo at upwards of six hun-
dred English miles. From a remark in Ledyard's
letter to Mr Jefferson, which will be quoted below, it
would seem, that he took a different direction, and
passed farther into the interior of Russian Finland.
This route, as he intimates, must have been wholly
unfrequented by travellers, although the distance must
be shorter, and at that season perhaps the difficulties
to be encountered were not greater, than down the
Gulf.

Be this as it may, he reached Petersburg before the
twentieth of March, that is, within seven weeks of
the time of leaving Stockholm, making the average
distance travelled about two hundred miles a week.

* See Maupertuis' Discourse before the Royal Academy of Sciences
in Paris. November 13th, 1737.

188 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

It is evident, therefore, that he met with no obstacles,
which his resolution did not speedily overcome. His
letter to Mr Jefferson, dated Petersburg, March 19th,
1787, will acquaint us with the state of his feelings,
and his prospects, at this stage of his travels.

" It will be one of the remaining pleasures of my
life, to thank you for the many instances of your
friendship, and, wherever I am, to pursue you with
the tale of my gratitude. If Mr Barclay should be
at Paris, let him rank with you as my next friend. I
hardly know how to estimate the goodness of the
Marquis de la Fayette to me, but I think a French
nobleman, of the first character in his country, never
did more to serve an obscure citizen of another, than
he has done for me ; and I am sure, that it is impossi-
ble, without some kind of soul made expressly for the
purpose, that an obscure citizen in such a situation can
be more grateful than I am. May he be told so, with
my compliments to his lady.

" I cannot tell you by what means I came to Peters-
burg, and hardly know by what means I shall quit it,
in the further prosecution of my tour round the
world by land. If I have any merit in the affair, it is
perseverance, for most severely have I been buffeted ;
and yet still am even more obstinate than before ; and
fate, as obstinate, continues her assaults. How the
matter will terminate I know not. The most proba-
ble conjecture is, that 1 shall succeed, and be bufTeted
around the world, as I have hitherto been from Eng-
land through Denmark, through Sweden, Swedish
Lapland, Swedish Finland, and the most unfrequented
parts of Russian Finland, to this aurora borealis of a

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 189

city. I cannot give you a history of myself since I
saw you, or since I wrote you last ; however abridged,
it would be too long. Upon the whole, mankind
have used me well ; and though I have as yet reached
only the first stage of my journey, I feel myself much
indebted for that urbanity, which I always thought
more general, than many think it to be ; and were it
not for the mischievous laws and bad examples of
some governments I have passed through, I am per-
suaded I should be able to give you a still better ac-
count of our fellow creatures. But I am hastening to
countries, where goodness, if natural to the human
heart, will appear independent of example, and furnish
an illustration of the character of man, not unworthy
of him, who wrote the Declaration of Independence.
I did not hear of the death of M. de Vergennes until
I arrived here. Permit me to express my regret at
the loss of so great and so good a man. Permit me,
also, to congratulate you, as the minister of my coun-
try, on account of the additional commercial privileges
granted by France to America, and to express my
ardent wishes, that the friendly spirit, which dictated
them, may last for ever. I was extremely pleased at
reading the account, and to heighten the satisfaction,
I found the name of La Fayette there.

"An equipment is now on foot here for the sea of
Kamtschatka, and it is first to visit the Northwest
Coast of America. It is to consist of four ships.
This, and the expedition that went from here twelve
months since by land for Kamtschatka, are to cooper-
ate in a design of some sort in the Northern Pacific
Ocean ; the Lord knows what, nor does it matter

190 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

what with me, nor indeed with yon, nor any other
minister, nor any potentate, south of fifty degrees of
latitude. I can only say, that you are in no danger of
having the luxurious repose of your charming climates
disturbed bj^ a second incursion of either Goth, Van-
dal, Hun, or Scythian.

" I dined today with Professor Pallas. He is an
accomplished man, and my friend, and has travelled
throughout European and Asiatic Russia. I find the
little French I have, of infinite service to me. I
could not do without it. It is a most extraordinary
language. 1 believe wolves, rocks, woods, and snow
understand it, for I have addressed them all in it, and
they have all been very complaisant to me. We had
a Scythian at table, who belongs to the Royal Society
of Physicians here. The moment he knew me and
my designs, he became my friend ; and it will be by
his generous assistance, joined with that of Professor
Pallas, that I shall be able to procure a Royal Pass-
port, without which I cannot stir. This must be
done through an application to the French minister,
there being no American minister here ; and to his
secretary I shall apply with Dr Pallas tomorrow, and
shall take the liberty to make use of your name, and
that of the Marquis de la Fayette, as to my character.
As all my letters of recommendation were English,
and as I have hitherto been used by the English with
the greatest kindness and respect, I first applied to
the British minister, but without success. The apolo-
gy was, that the present political condition, between
Russia and England, would make it disagreeable for
the British minister to ask any favor. The secretary

LIFE OP JOHN LEDYARD. 191

of the French embassy will despatch my letter, and
one of his accompanying it, to the Count Segur to-
morrow morning. I will endeavor to write you again
before I leave Petersburg, and give you some further
accounts of myself. Meantime, I wish you health.
I have written a short letter to the Marquis. Adieu.''

It will be remembered, that at this time the Em-
press was absent on her famous jaunt to Kerson and
the Krimea. She had left Petersburg in January,
accompanied by Prince Potemkin, and many others of
the courtiers, and of the Russian nobility. The Aus-
trian and French ambassadors were also in her train.
She passed through Smolensk, and was now at Kief,
where she remained amidst a brilliant assemblage of
nobles from Poland and her Russian territories, till
the spring was so far advanced, that she could proceed
by water down the Dnieper, in the magnificent gallies
prepared for the purpose.

While the Empress and her retinue were at Kief, a
round of splendid entertainments, ceremonies, and
visits from eminent personages, occupied her time, and
absorbed her thoughts, in addition to the great politi-
cal projects, which she is said to have been meditating
in regard to the conquest of Turkey. Had the
French ambassador found an opportunity, therefore,
amidst these scenes of gaiety and bustle, to present a
petition to the Empress from an unknown individual,
for a passport to travel through her dominions, it could
not be thought strange, that she should have neglected
to attend to it with the promptness, which more im-
portant affairs might require. Weeks passed away,
and no answer was returned. Ledyard's patience

192 LFFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

was severely tried by this delay, and he began to talk
of going forward without any passport. On the fif-
teenth of May, after waiting nearly two months at
Petersburg, he writes to Colonel Smith, " My heart is
oppressed ; my designs are generous ; why is my fate
otherwise ? The Count Segur has not yet sent me
tny passport. But this shall not stop me ; I shall
surmount all things, and at least deserve success."
About this time he became acquainted with a Russian
ofBcer, who belonged to the family of the Grand
Duke, and who took a lively interest in his concerns,
and proffered his services. Ledyard says he was not
only " polite and friendly, but a iliinJdng Russian.-'
By the kind assistance of this gentleman he obtained
his passport in fifteen days, and was prepared for his
departure.

It was fortunate, that just at this time Mr William
Brown, a Scotch physician, was going to the province
of Kolyvan, in the employment of the Empress.
Ledyard joined him, and thus had a companion on his
tour for more than three thousand miles. From this
arrangement he enjoyed an important advantage, for
Brown travelled at the expense of the government,
and as Ledyard went with him by permission of the
proper authority, his travelling charges w'ere probably-
defrayed in part at least from the public funds^
And, indeed, without this aid, it would have been
impossible for him to move a step, for his own re-
sources were completely exhausted. On his arrival
in Petersburg his necessities were extreme, as his
money was gone, and he was almost destitute of
clothes. In this extremity he drew a bill for twenty

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 193

guineas on Sir Joseph Banks, which he found some
friend willing to accept, although he confessed, that
Sir Joseph had not authorized him to draw, and that
the payment of the bill would depend on his generosi-
ty. It was immediately paid when presented in Lon-
don, much to the honor of that munificent patron of
science and enterprise. It is said, that a quantity
of stores was sent under the care of Dr Brown, to be
forwarded to Mr Billings at Yakutsk, who was em-
ployed in exploring those remote regions of Siberia
and Kamtschatka, in the service of the Empress.

The party left Petersburg on the first of June, and
in six days arrived at Moscow. During the last day's
ride they overtook the Grand Duke and his retinue,
who were going to Moscow to meet the Empress on
her return from her pompous journey to the Krimea.
The two travellers remained but one day in Moscow.
They hired a person to go with them to Kazan, a dis-
tance of five hundred and fifty miles, and drive their
kibitka with three horses. " Kibitka travelling,"
says Ledyard in his journal, " is the remains of cara-
van travelling ; it is your only home ; it is like a ship
at sea." In this vehicle they were hurried along with
considerable speed towards Kazan, through Vladimir,
Nishnei Novogorod, and other towns. Kazan stands
on the right bank of the majestic Wolga, and is the
capital of a province of the same name. It is ranked
among the first cities in the empire, containing a uni-
versity, churches, convents, and other public buildings,
some of which are magnificent, and finished with
much architectural taste and elegance. Immense
quantities of grain are produced in this province, and
25

194 LIFE OF JOHJH LED YARD.

also flax and leather for exportation. The soil is well
cultivated, but low and unhealthy, and the inhabitants
are a mixed population of Russians and Tartars.

They staid a week at Kazan, and then commenced
their journey to Tobolsk, where they arrived on the
eleventh of July, having crossed the Ural mountains,
and passed the frontiers of Europe and Asia. The
face of the country had hitherto been level, with
hardly an eminence springing from the great plain,
which spreads over the vast territory from Moscow
to Tobolsk. The ascent of the Ural mountains was
so gradual, as scarcely to form an exception to this
general remark, and nothing could be more monoto-
nous and dreary, than the interminable wastes, over
which their route had led them since leaving Kazan,
with here and there a miserable village, and mipro-
ductive culture of the soil. " The wretched appear-
ance of the inhabitants," says our jom'nalist, " is such
as may generally be observed in a greater or less de-
gree in those places, which are so unhappy as to be
the frontiers between nations ; like step-children are
they." This is especially the condition of the people
throughout the whole extent of the China frontiers,
that border on Russia. It is the policy of the govern-
ment to preserve this belt of desolation, as a barrier
against the too easy access of foreigners, and as a
means of preventing contraband trade.

Tobolsk is a city of considerable interest, having
been once the capital of all Siberia, and in early times
the scene of a great battle between the renowned
hero Yermak, and the Tartar prince, Koutchum Khan,
in which the former was victorious. The citv stands

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 195

at the junction of two large rivers, the Tobol and
Irtish, which there unite and flow on together, till
their waters are mingled with the Obe, and thence
conveyed to the Northern Ocean. It consists of the
upper and lower town, the latter situate on the margin
of the river, and the former on a commanding emi-
nence, which overlooks the lower town and much of
the adjacent country. Captain Cochrane, who visited
his place a few years ago, was greatly pleased with its
natural advantages and scenery, and the condition and
comforts of the people. The town is well laid out into
streets^ contains handsome churches and other edifi-
ces, a well regulated market, and provisions of all
kinds in abundance, and exceedingly cheap. He was
not less charmed with the society, for although To-
bolsk is the residence of exiles, they are such as have
been sent to Siberia for political reasons, and not male-
factors, these latter being accommodated with a resi-
dence and employment much farther in the interior
towards Kamtschatka. These political exiles are com-
monly persons of some culture and intelligence, for,
as this author justly remarks, no government banishes
fools; and the social circles of the better sort indicate
a refinement and happiness, which might be envied in
more civilized parts of the globe. So much was this
traveller pleased with the wild and beautiful scenery
on the banks of the Irtish, that he followed up the
stream to the borders of China, enraptured at every
step ; nor was he satisfied, till he had contemplated
by moonlight the deep solitudes and lofty granite
mountains, that constitute the bulwark of this north-
ern boundary of the Celestial Empire.

196 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

But Captain Cochrane was an amateur traveller,
wandering for amusement, and seeking odd adventures
in the most promising theatre for them. Ledyard, on
the contrary, was impelled forward by a single motive,
and he would gladly have annihilated space and time,
if he could have set his foot the next moment on the
American Continent. He did not traverse the wild
wastes of Siberia to make discoveries, gaze at moun-
tains, trace rivers to their sources, nor even to examine
the economy of society and the condition of the peo-
ple. He had a soul to admire whatever was grand or
beautiful in nature, and to be strongly affected with
the various states of human existence, as his observa-
tions abundantly prove ; but he suffered these to make
an incidental claim only on his attention, keeping
them subordinate to his great design and absorbing
purpose. Hence he stopped no longer in any place,
than was necessary to prepare for a new departure.
Three days he and his companion stayed at Tobolsk,
and then continued their journey to Barnaoul, the
capital of the province of Kolyvan. At this place he
was to leave Dr Brown and proceed alone. For this
gentleman he had contracted a sincere esteem, and
was prevailed upon to remain in Barnaoul a week, out
of regard to the kindness and in compliance with the
solicitation of his friend.

In many respects Barnaoul is one of the most agree-
able places of residence in Siberia. The province, of
which it is the capital, is a rich mining district, and
this] brings together in the town persons of science
and respectability, who are employed as public officers
to superintend the working of the mines. The sur-

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 197

rounding country, moreover, is well suited to agricul-
ture, abounding in good lands for pasture and grain,
supporting vast herds of cattle, and producing vegeta-
bles in great profusion. In consequence of these
bounties of nature, there is an overflowing and cheap
market, an absence of want, and much positive happi-
ness among the people.

Ledyard was lodged at Barnaoul in the house of
the treasurer, by whom he was treated with great hos-
pitality. He dined twice with the governor, and also
with two old discharged officers of the array, who, at
their own request, had quitted the service, and become
judges and justices of the law. He was shown the
armorial bearings of forty two provinces in the empire.
The governor told him, that the salt, produced by the
salt lakes in the province of Kolyvan, yielded some-
what more to the revenue than the mines, and also
that the aggregate amount of revenue from that pro-
vince was greater than from any other. In respect to
gold and silver, this is no doubt the case at the present
day, but in regard to the salt it is uncertain. There
are said to be salt lakes in Siberia, so much saturated
with saline matter, that the salt crystalizes of its
own accord, and adheres in this state to pieces of
wood and other substances put into the water,

Kolyvan is near the middle point between Peters-
burg and Okotsk, it being somewhat more than three
thousand miles in opposite directions to each of those
places.* Barnaoul stands on the bank of the river

* In his Journal, Ledyard enters the following distances, which he
says were taken from a Russian Almanac In the second column I

198 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

Obe, which is a broad and noble stream where it
passes the town. It is in the fifty third degree of north
latitude, and in the last week of July the mornings
were exceedingly hot, the sky cloudless and serene,
and the atmosphere perfectly calm. In the afternoon
a gentle breeze would spring up, increase by degrees
till evemng, and contmue through the night. Rams
are not frequent in Kolyvan.

The following extract is from that part of the jour-
nal, which was written at Barnaoul, and contains re-
marks on what came under the writer's notice during
his journey to that place.

" The face of the country from Petersburg to Koly-
van is one continued plain. The soil before arriving
at Kazan is very well cultivated ; afterwards cultiva-
tion gradually ceases. On the route to Kazan we saw
large mounds of earth, often of twenty, thirty, and
forty feet elevation, which I conjectured, and on in-
quiry found, to be ancient sepulchres. There is an
analogy between these and our own graves, and the
Egyptian pyramids ; and an exact resemblance between
them, and those piles supposed to be of monumental
earth, which are found among some of the tribes of
North America. We first saw Tartars before our ar-

have reduced the versts to English miles. Three versts are equal to
two miles.

Versts. Miles.

From Petersburg to Barnaoul 4539 . . . 3026

" Barnaoul to Irkutsk 1732 ... 3155

« Irkutsk to Yakutsk 2266 . . . 1510

« Yakutsk to Okotsk 952 ... 635

" Okotsk to Awateka in Kamtschatka . . 1065 . . . 710

Whole distance from Petersburg to Kamtschatka 10554 . . . 7036

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 199

rival at Kazan ; and also a woman with her nails
painted red, like the Cochin Chinese.

" Notwithstanding the modern introduction of linen
into Russia, the garments of the peasantry still retain
not only the form, but the manner of ornamenting
them, which was practised when they wore skins.
This resembles the Tartar mode of ornamenting, and
is but a modification of ilm wampum ornament, which
is still discernible westward from Russia to Denmark,
among the Finlanders, Laplanders, and Swedes. The
nice gradation by which I pass from civilization to
incivilization appears in everything ; in manners, dress,
language ; and particularly in that remarkable and
important circumstance, color, which I am now fully
convinced originates from natural causes, and is the
effect of external and local circumstances. I think the
same oi feature. I see here the large mouth, the thick
lip, the broad flat nose, as well as in Africa. I see also
in the same village as great a difference of complexion ;
from the fair hair, fair skin, and white eyes, to the
olive, the black jetty hair and eyes ; and these all of the
same language, same dress, and, I suppose, same tribe.
I have frequently observed in Russian villages, obscure
and dirty, mean and poor, that the women of the pea-
santry paint their faces, both red and white. I have
had occasion from this and other circumstances to sup-
pose, that the Russians are a people, who have been
early attached to luxury. They are everywhere fond
of eclat. ' Sir,' said a Russian officer to me in Peters-
burg, 'we pay no attention to anything but eclat.''
The contour of their manners is Asiatic, and not Eu-
ropean. The Tartars are universally neater than the

200 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

Russians, particularly in their houses. The Tartar,
however situated, is a voluptuary ; and it 4S an origi-
nal and striking trait in their character, from the
Grand Seignior, to him who pitches his tent on the
wild frontiers of Russia and China, that they are more
addicted to real sensual pleasure, than any other peo-
ple. The Emperor of Germany, the Kings of Eng-
land and France, have pursuits that give an entirely
different turn to their enjoyments ; and so have their
respective subjects. Would a Tartar live on Vive le
Roi ? Would he spend ten years in constructing a
watch ? or twenty in forming a telescope ?

" In the United States of America, as in Russia,
we have made an effort to convert our Tartars to
think and act like us ; but to what effect ? Among
us, Sampson Occum was pushed the farthest within
the pale of civilization, but just as the sanguine
divine, who brought him there, was forming the
highest expectations, he fled and sought his own ely-
sium in the bosom of his native forests. In Russia
they have had none so distinguished ; here they are
commonly footmen, or lackeys of some other kind.
The Marquis de la Fayette had a young American
Tartar, of the Onandago tribe, who came to see him,
and the Marquis, at much expense, equipped him in
rich Indian dresses. After staying some time, he did
as Occum did. When I was at school at Mount Ida
[Dartmouth College], many Indians were there, most
of whom gave some promise of being civilized, and
some were sent forth to preach ; but as far as I observ-
ed myself, and have been since informed, they all
returned to the home and customs of their fathers, and

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 201

followed the inclinations, which nature had so deeply
enstamped on their character."

To these remarks is here added part of a letter,
written to Mr Jefferson from Barnaoul, dated on the
twentyninth of July, 1787.

<' How I have come thus far, and liow I am to go
still farther, is an enigma that I must disclose to you
on some happier occasion. I shall never be able,
without seeing you in person, and perhaps not then, to
inform you how universally and circumstantially the
Tartars resemble the Aborigines of America. They
are the same people ; the most ancient and the most
numerous of any other ; and had not a saiall sea
divided them, they would all have been still known by
the same name. The cloak of civilization sets as ill
upon them, as upon our American Tartars. They
have been a long time Tartars, and it will be a long
time before they will be any other kind of people.

'^' I shall send this letter to Petersburg, to the care of
Professor Pallas. He will transmit it to you, together
with one for the Marquis, in the mail of the Count
Segur. My health is perfectly good; but notwith-
standing the vigor of my body, my mind keeps the
start of me, and I anticipate my future fate with the
most lively ardor. Pity it is, that in such a career one
should be subjected, like a horse, to the beggarly im-
pediments of sleep and hunger.

" The banks of the large rivers in this country
everywhere abound with something curious in the fos-
sil world. I have found the leg-bone of a very large
animal on the b^mks of the Obe, and have sent it to
Dr Pallas, requesting him to render me an account of
26

202 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

it hereafter. It is either an elephant's, or rhinoceros'
bone. The latter animal has been in this country.
There is a complete head of one in a state of high
preservation at Petersburg. I am a curiosity here
myself. Those who have heard of America flock
round to see me. Unfortunately the marks on my
hands * procure me and my countrymen the appellation
of wild men. Among the better sort we are some-
w hat more known. The governor and his family have
got a peep at the history of our existence, through the
medium of an antiquated pamphlet of some kind. We
have, however, two stars, that shine even in the galaxy
of Barnaoul, and the healths of Dr Franklin and of
General Washington have been drunk, in compliment
to me, at the governor's table. I am treated with the
greatest hospitality here. Hitherto I have fared com-
fortably when I could make a port anywhere, but when
totally in the country I have been a little incommoded.
Hospitality, however, I have found as universal as the
face of man. When you read this, perhaps two months
before you do, if I do well, I shall be at Okotsk,
where I will do myself the honor to trouble you
again, and if possible will write more at large. My
compliments wait on all my Parisian friends."

After spending a week very agreeably in Barnaoul,
he made preparations for recommencing his journey.
From this place to Irkutsk it was arranged, that he
should travel post with the courier, who had charge of
the mail. All things being in readiness, he writes,
" I waited on the governor with my passport ; he was

* The tattoo marks made on his hands at Otaheite.

XIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 203

well pleased with it ; gave me a corporal to conduct
the affairs of the mail ; said I had nothing to do but
sit in the kibitka, and mustered up French enough to
say, Monsieur, je vous souhaite im bon voyage. I took
an affectionate farewell of the worthy Dr Brown, and
left Barnaoul." The next stopping-place on the route
was Tomsk, distant three hundred miles, which were
passed over in two days and three nights. The river
Tom, which flows near this town, is as large as the
Irtish, where it is crossed by the main road above
Tobolsk, and was the first river met with by our trav-
eller since leaving Petersburg, which had either a
gravelly bottom or shore. On its banks were found
little mounds of earth, which were ascertained to have
been the habitations of the natives, who dwelt there
before the conquest of the country by the Russians.*

* In Bell's Journey from Petersburg to Pekin, with the Russian em-
bassy, in the year 1720, the author gives a curious account of the
mounds in the regions about Tomsk. He considers them the tombs of
ancient heroes, who fell in battle. " Many persons go from Tomsk,''
he observes, " and other parts every summer to tliese graves, which
they dig up, and find among the ashes of the dead considerable quan-
ties of gold, silver, brass, and some precious stones ; but particularly'
hilts of swords and armour. They find, also, ornaments of saddles and
bridles, and other trappings for horses ; and even the bones of horses,
and sometimes those of elephants. Whence it appears, that when any
general or person of distinction was interred, all his arms, his favorite
horse, and servant, were buried with him in the same grave. This
custom prevails to this day among the Kalmuks and other Tar-
tars, and seems to be of great antiquity. It appears from the number
of graves, that many thousands must have fallen on these plains, for
the people have continued to dig for such treasure many years, and
still find it unexhausted. They are sometimes, indeed, interrupted and
robbed of all their booty by parties of the Kalmuks, who abhor the
disturbing the ashes of the dead." Vol. I. p. 253.

204 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

The nights, he remarked, were very cold, more so
than he had known them in any country, where it was
at the same time so hot by day. All the way from
Barnaoul, and particularly in its neighborhood, were
perceived the ruinous effects of the violent winds, that
frequently produce great devastation in those parts of
Siberia. Forest trees and fields of grain were indis-
criminately blown down and destroyed. The hospi-
tality of the inhabitants, however, was unabated.
They could rarely be prevailed upon to take anything
for "provisions or accommodation. On one occasion,
for as much barley soup, onions, quass, bread, and
milk, as made a hearty meal for the traveller and his
corporal, the good woman, who furnished them, con-
sented to receive one kopeek, and nothing more.*

They were detained two or three days at Tomsk,
waiting for a mail, that was coming by another route
from Tobolsk ; but the commandant was affable and
generous, and did not allow the time to pass heavily.
He was somewhat of a singularity, being a French-
man, born in Paris, now seventythree years old, having
resided twentyfive years in Siberia, and more than
thirty in Russia. He spoke his native language im-
perfectly, and wrote it still worse. His favorite topic
was the dignity of his birth, and the high rank of his
family. But Ledyard wished to know more about
Siberia at that moment, than of the genealogy or rank
of the families in France, and he ventured to ask the

* The value of the kopeek varies at different times. Ledyard states
it to have been about one tenth of an English penny, when he was in
Siberia. In Dr Clarke's Travels it is put down as equal to an English
halfpenny.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 205

old man if the town, or its environs, afforded anything
valuable or curious in natural history. His answer
was, that there were thieves, rogues, liars, and villains
of every description. The conversation was pushed
no further in the way of philosophical inquiry, for it
was evident the Frenchman's thoughts had run very
little in that channel.

There was truth in his remark, although uttered
somewhat out of place. Tomsk had long been the
rendezvous of the worst class of exiles, w4io had been
banished for their crimes, and could not be expected
to exercise a very salutary influence on society, or to
become pattern members of it themselves. Poverty
and wretchedness, the accompaniments of vice, formed
here some of the prominent objects in the foreground
of the picture, and beggars daily thronged the streets,
as in the most populous regions of the civilized world.
The charity and kind feelings of the better sort of
inhabitants, however, afforded a pleasing contrast to
this debasement and suffering. Ledyard observes,
that the family with whom he lodged, were accustom-
ed every morning to lay aside in the window ten or
twelve farthing pieces for the charitable purposes of
the day. Considering the extraordinary cheapness of
food, this would afford relief to many persons. The
beggars began their rounds at an early hour, and went
regularly from house to house, and were very rarely
sent away without something. Those, who did not
give money, gave bread. Some of the beggars were
in irons. The people asked no questions, but appeared
to give cheerfully and without grudging. The de-
mand was uniformly made, pour Vainour de Dieu,

206 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

"for which," sajs the journalist, " one may have more
in this country, than in any other I have seen."

In ten days from the time of leaving Tomsk, the
traveller and his corporal were safely arrived in Ir-
kutsk, over a road, of which he speaks in no terms of
commendation. The river Yenissey was crossed at
the town of Krasnojarsk, where the commandant
pressed him to stop long enough to dine, and celebrat-
ed the event of a stranger's arrival, with such free
potations as to become intoxicated. From Tomsk to
Yenissey the country exhibited rather an agreeable
aspect, and marks of cultivation. Ledyard observes,
that in this region he " first finds the real craggy,
peaked hill, or mountain," and from Krasnojarsk to
Irkutsk was the first stony road, which he had passed
over in the Russian dominions. The streets of To-
bolsk, and some of the other towns on his route, were
paved with wood.

" Passing on east from the Yenissey to Irkutsk the
country is thinly peopled. A very few, and those
miserable houses, are to be seen on the road, and none
at all at a distance from it. The country is hilly,
rough, mountainous, and covered with thick for-
ests. The rivers here also have all rocky beds, and
are rapid in the degree of three to five miles an hour.
The autumnal rains are begun, and they have set
in severely. I am now in Irkutsk, and have stayed in
my quarters all day to take a little rest, after a very
fatiguing journey, rendered so by sundry very disagree-
able circumstances ; going with the courier, and driv-
ing with wild Tartar horses, at a most rapid rate, over
a wild and ragged country; breaking and upsetting

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 207

kibitkas ; beswarmed with musquetoes ; all the waj
hard rains ; and when I arrived at Irkutsk I was, and
had been for the last fortjeight hours, wet through
and through, and covered with one complete mass of
mud."

208 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

CHAPTER IX.

Residence at Irkutsk. — Miscellaneous remarks on the inhabitants, and the
productions of the country. — Accounts of the Tartars. — Unsuccessful attempts
to civilize them. — Fur trade on the American coast. — Visit to the Lake Bai-
kal.— Further remarks on the character and manners of the Kalmuks and
other Tartars. — Leaves Irkutsk for the river Lena. — Scenery around the
Baikal. — Rivers flowing into it. — Extraordinary depth of its waters. — Tliey
are fresh, but contain seals, and fish, peculiar to the ocean. — Estimate of the
number of rivers in Siberia, and of the quantity of water they pour into the
Frozen Ocean. — Ledyard proceeds down the Lena in a bateau. — Romantic
sceneiy along the margin of the river. — Hospitality of the inhabitants. — Ends
his voyage at Yakutsk.

Ledyard staid in Irkutsk about ten days, and his
observations and general reflections during that time
may be best understood by extracts from his journal,
as they were written on the spot. They are rather in
the nature of hints and first thoughts, than of a regu-
lar narrative, but they will show his inquisitive turn
of mind, and his eagerness for acquiring such knowl-
edge, as accorded with the general objects of his
travels.

" August 16th. I have not been out this morning,
but I shrewdly suspect by what I see from my poor
talc window, that I shall even here find the fashiona-
ble follies, the ridiculous extravagance, and ruinous
eclat of Petersburg. — I have been out, and ray suspi-
cions were well founded. Dined with a brigadier, a
colonel, and a major, a little out of town ; they are Ger-
mans. Had at the table a French exile, who had been
an adjutant. Scarcely a day passes but an exile of some
sort arrives. Most of the inhabitants of this remote

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 209

part of Siberia are convicts. The country here was
formerly inhabited by the Mongul or Kalmuk Tartars,
who are, I conclude, the same people. Find no
account of the Calumet. The French exile had been
at Quebec, and thinks the Tartars here much inferior
to the American Indians, both in their understanding
and persons. I observe the Tongusians have not the
Mongul or Kalmuk faces, but moderately long, and
considerably like the European face. These Tongu-
sians form the second class of Tartars, so obviously
distinguishable by their features from other Tartars,
and from Europeans. What I call the third class are
the light eyed and fair complexioned Tartars, which
class I believe includes the Cossacs. The Tchuk-
tchi are the only northern Tartars, that remain unsub-
jected to the government.

" The town of Irkutsk is the residence of the Gov-
ernor-General, Jacobi, and of a military commander,
and has in it two battalions of infantry. It has two
thousand poor log houses, and ten churches. Jacobi's
authority extends from here to the Pacific Ocean, an
immense territory. I waited this morning on the
director of the bank, Mr Karamyscheff, who was a
pupil of Linnaeus. He is very assiduous to oblige me
in everything, and sent for three Kalmuks in the
dress of their country. Nothing particularly curious
about them, but their pipes, which are coarsely
made of copper by themselves ; the form altogether
Chinese. Karamyscheff informs me, that the Monguls
and Kalmuks are the same people. From his house I
went with the Conseiller cVEtat, who introduced me
to Jacobi, the Governor. Fie is an old, venerable man,
27

210 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

and although I believe, with Pallas, that he is un
homme de hois, yet he received me standing and un-
covered. Our conversation was merely respecting my
going with the post, which he granted me, and, be-
sides, told me that I should be particularly well accom-
modated, wished me a successful voyage, and that my
travels might be productive of information to mankind.
I conversed with him in French, through the interpre-
tation of the Conseiller.

" This latter gentleman gave me the following in-
formation. ' The white Tartars you saw about Kazan
are natives of that country, and we call them Kazan
Tartars. Kazan was once a kingdom of theirs.
From this place to Yakutsk you pass among the Kal-
muks. At Yakutsk you will see the Yakuti, and also
the Tongusians, who are more personable than the
Kalmuks, or Monguls, and more sensible ; but the
Yakuti are more sensible than either. They are
indeed a people of good natural parts and genius, and
by experience are found capable of any kind of learn-
ing. From Yakutsk you pass through the Tongusians
all the way to Okotsk. In the time of Jenghis Khan
the Thibet Tartars, that is, the Kalmuks, or Monguls,
made incursions into this country. We have two
hundred thousand Russians, and, as nearly as we can
estimate, half that number of Indians of all descrip-
tions in this province. Marriages in and near the vil-
lages take place between the Russians and Tartars,
but they are not frequent. I believe the extreme cold,
and want of snow here during winter, and the sudden
change of weather in the summer, to be the reason
why Ave can have no fruit here. We have often, in the

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 211

months of May and June, ice three and four inches
thick. Besides, this country, as you have observed, is
subject to terrible gales of wind, which blow away
both bud and blossom. We have nevertheless a few
little apples, which we eat at our tables, and they are
not without flavor.' Thus much the Conseiller.

" The forest trees in this country are almost alto-
gether birch ; they are generally rotten at the heart.
Mr Karamyscheff tells me, that there are many bones
of the rhinoceros in these parts of Siberia, and also
the same large bones, that are found on the banks of
the Ohio in America. It seems, that the places in
which to find those bones, and other cm'ious fossils,
are at the mouths of the great rivers Yenissey, Lena,
Kolyma, and others, among the islands that are formed
where they flow into the sea. Here they are all
lodged, after having been washed from under ground
by the rivers in the different countries, which they
traverse.

" August 17th. Today it seems the jubilee is ob-
served, on account of the Empress having reigned
twentyfive years. In coming from Karamyscheff 's I
met the Governor-General and his suite of officers,
the brigadier I dined with yesterday, and other digni-
taries, to the number of two hundred, all going to
dine with the Governor, who keeps open house on the
occasion. The governor and other officers saluted me
as they passed ; those, who did not know me, wonder-
ing what could procure such attention to one so poorly
and oddly attired. I was pressed by some of the
company to go and dine. Had my clothes been good,
I would have gone. But I dined with Karamyscheff.

212 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

It is a Tartar name, and he is of Tartarian extraction.
Saw an appletree in his garden. The fruit, as he de-
scribed it, would be as large as a full sized pea in
France or England. It is the genuine appletree, and
their naturalists distinguish it by the name of the
pyrus haccata. These are the only apples in Siberia.
" Karamyscheff says the Yakuti Tartars are the
veritables Tartars, by which I understand, that they
are a less mixed race than the others. Their language
he says is the oldest language, and that other tribes
understand it. The Yakuti formerly possessed this
country, but they were driven out by the Kalmuks,
who made a succession of attacks upon them, and
pursued them to the ^ la, down which they fled, and
settled at Yakutsk, ixaramyscheff has in his house
four children descended from a Kalmuk father and
Russian mother. The first resembles the father, and
is entirely Kalmuk ; the second the mother, with fair
hair and eyes ; one of the others is Kalmuk, and the
other Russian. They are all healthy and well look-
ing children. I saw three of them. Karamyscheff
knows not among what people to rank the Kamtscha-
"lales. He acknowledges with me, that their faces
are entirely Kalmuk, but says they came from Ameri-
ca. This controverts the common opinion, that
America was peopled after Asia. But he is carried
away with the wild notions of the French naturalist,
Buffon. I find universally, that the Tartars wear
their beards. The ears of Kalmuk, or Mongul Tar-
tars, project universally farther from the head, than
those of Europeans. I measured the ears of the Kal-
muks at Karamyscheff 's today, and on an average

LIFE OF JOHN LEDTARD. 213

they projected one and a half inch, and they were by
no means extraordmary examples. The ears of the
Chmese are shuilar.

" We have French and Spanish wines here, but so
adulterated, that I was told of it before I knew it to
be wine. KaramyschefT is fully sensible of the luxury
and vanity I complain of in this country, which is
but beginning to begin., as I told him today. He
laments it, and declared frankly to me, that patriot-
ism and the true solid virtues of a citizen are hardly
known. The geographical termination of Russia,
and the commencement of Siberia, is at the city
of Perm. The natural boundary is the river Yenis-
sey. I observe that the face of the country is very
different on this side of the Yenissey, and Karamy-
schefT, who is a botanist, says the vegetable produc-
tions differ as much.
^ '■^ August l^lh.. Went this morning to see some
curiosities from different parts of Siberia. Saw also
a piece of Sandwich Island cloth, which was obtained
from Captain Cook's ship at Kamtschatka, when he
was there. In the collection was the skin of a Chi-
nese goat, the hair of which was the whitest, longest,
and most delicate that I ever saw ; also some excel-
lent sea-otter skins, the largest of which were valued
at two hundred roubles ; likewise a bow, quiver, and
all the military apparatus of a Kalmuk, which was
very heavy. The Kalrauks and Monguls here receive
the common name of the Buretti.

I went to the Archbishop's to see a young savage of
the Tchuktchi. The good bishop had taken great
pains to humanize him (as Dr Wheelock had done

214 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

with Sampson Occum, whose story I related on this
occasion) ; but he informed us, that he had lately
taken to drink, and died drunk ; or, in the bishop's
own words, ' somebody had one day given him half a
rouble, and he went out with it, but never returned,
and was found dead by the side of a Kabak.' Dined
with my friend Karamyscheff again today, who pre-
sented me, in lieu of a domestic, a young lieutenant
to go with me and buy a few things ; ' But,' said he,
' don't put any money in his hands, he will not return
it.' We had at table the wife of a clerk to Mr
Karamyscheff, whose mother was a savage from the
Tchuktchi regions, and her father a Russian. She is
a fine creature, and her complexion a good middling
color. It strengthens my opinion, that the difference
of color in man is not the effect of any design in the
Creator, but of causes simple in themselves, which
will perhaps soon be well ascertained. It is an extra-
ordinary circumstance, but I think I ought not on that
account to conclude, that it is not the result of natural
causes.

^^ August 19th. For the second time I have ob-
served, that in the wells, about twelve feet down,
there is a great deal of ice adhering to the sides. I
went this morning to see a merchant, who was the
owner of a vessel, that had passed from Kamtschatka
to different parts of the coast of America. He
showed me some charts rudely descriptive of his voy-
ages ; says there are, on different parts of the coast
of America, two thousand Russians ; and that, as
nearly as he can judge, the number of skins, procured
by them in that country, amounts to twelve thousand.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 215

He has a vessel at Okotsk, which leaves that place for
America next summer, and he offers me a passage in
her.

" Dined today with a German colonel, and after
dinner set out for the Lake Baikal, which, in the Kal-
muk language, signifies the North Sea. The Kalmuks,
or Monguls, originally lived on the south of this lake,
towards China and Thibet. After a good and cheer-
ful dinner with the colonel, we mounted his drosky,
with post horses, and took our departure for the lake.
After seven hours' ride over a miserable road, we ar-
rived at the little hamlet of St Nicholas, where for-
merly the Russian ambassadors resided, before they
embarked to cross the lake for China. This village
has a church in it, dedicated to St Nicholas, and all
the sailors on the lake resort to it. We lodged here
through the night, and early next morning resumed
our journey, and reached the border of the lake. Here
are six or seven houses, among which the largest was
ordered to be built by the Empress for the accommo-
dation of all strangers that pass this way ; and also a
galliot, which plies as a packet in the summer across
the lake.

" We hailed the galliot, which was at anchor in the
lake. The captain came ashore, and we went off
with him in a small boat, wdth line and lead to take
soundings ; but having only fifty fathoms of line, and
it raining very hard, we could not make much progress.
At the distance of one hundred feet from the shore,
my whole length of line was taken up. We retired to
the house, breakfasted, and waited an hour for the rain
to abate ; but, finding it to continue, we requested the

216 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

captain to send us in his boat to Irkutsk. He com-
plied with our request, and made us a canopy of hides
to defend us from the rain. We sent our drosky back
by the postboy, and embarked with two sailors to
row us. We passed along the margin of the lake to
the outlet, where the river Angara begins, and thence
down the river to Irkutsk, a distance of about forty-
five miles. This lake is seven hundred and sixtynine
versts (five hundred and thirteen miles) in its longest
,part, and sixty versts (forty miles) in its broadest. Its
depth is said to be unfathomable. It has an annual
ebb and flux ; the one is caused by the autumnal rains,
and the other by the dry season in spring. It has
emptying into it one hundred and sixtynine small
streams, from twenty to eighty yards wide, and three
larger ones from a quarter to half a mile wide. It has
but one outlet, by which to dispose of the redundancy
from all these influxes, and that is the river Angara,
which is a Kalmuk name. It is no more than a quar-
ter of a mile wide, where it springs from the lake, is
very shallow, and far from being rapid.

" August 22d. The government of Irkutsk has
four provinces, namely, Irkutsk, Yakutsk, Nartschintsk,
and Okotsk. These are divided into several districts
each. The governor sent me a surveyor, with the
latest chart of the great territory embracing these
provinces. By measurement I found its latitudinal
extent, from its southern extremity to the Icy Ocean
north, to be two thousand seven hundred versts, and
its longitudinal extent, from its western boundary to
Tchuktchi Nos, its eastern extremity at Bering's
Strait, to be three thousand nine hundred versts.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 217

" I am informed by the Governor, that the post will
not be ready for three days.

" August 23d. The commerce of Irkutsk is very
small with Europe, and consequently at present at a
very low ebb, since there is no open trade with the
Chinese, its nearest neighbors of a commercial charac-
ter. The frontiers, between this country and China,
are principally defended by an army of Buretti, or
Kalmuk Tartars. They are mostly horsemen, like
the Cossacs in the western dominions, and amount to
more than five thousand men. There are two con-
vents near this town, one of men and the other of
women, separated by a river. I observe in Siberia,
that in all the cities there is one great burying place,
and that wherever this is (and it is commonly out of
the town), there is likewise a church, and the best
church of the place. This is but another kind of
pyramid, a large mound, or a mound modified.

" August 25th. This morning I leave tow^n. The
land is well cultivated on the borders of the river, and
is good. Among the Buretti, or Kalmuks, I observe
the American moccasin, the common moccasin, like
the Finland moccasin. The houses of the Buretti
have octagonal sides, covered with turf, with a fireplace
in the centre, and an aperture for smoke ; the true
American wigwam, and like the first Tartar house I
saw in this country, which was near Kazan. Mr
Karamyscheff says they have the wild horse on their
Chinese frontiers. The Buretti here ride and work
the horned cattle ; they perforate the cartilage of the
nose, and put a cord through it to guide them by. This
28

218 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

is to be wondered at, as the country is level, and they
have vast droves of horses.

" August 26th. Hard white frost last night, and
very cold. Run away with by these furious unbroke
Tartar horses, and saved myself each time by jump-
ing out of the kibitka. Thank Heaven, ninety versts
more will probably put an end to my kibitka journey-
ing for ever."

Such are some of the brief notes entered in his
journal, while he was at Irkutsk. He was detained
on account of the delay of the post, and made the
best use of his time in collecting such information, as
he supposed would be serviceable to him in his future
travels. The inquiries, of which he was peculiarly
fond, respecting the different races of men, their ori-
gin, classification, and distinctions, were here pursued
with his customary diligence and discrimination. But
it should always be borne in mind, that he did not
intend his journal for anything more than a repository
of loose hints, which might assist his recollection,
when the occasion for using them should occur.
They were never afterwards revised, or altered, but
have been preserved in the original form, in which he
recorded them on his journey. This fact should
claim for them all the indulgence, which their incohe-
rency, or want of maturity, may seem to require.

The Lake Baikal in some respects is one of the
most remarkable bodies of water on the globe. Other
travellers have given its dimensions somewhat differ-
ently from Ledyard, varying from three hundred to
six hundred miles in length, and from fortyfive to sixty
miles in width where it is the broadest. Ledyard

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 219

probably measured it on the chart just mentioned. All
travellers agree, however, that the scenery around this
lake is the most picturesque, bold, and imposing im-
aginable. The Angara bursts out from the lake, be-
tween immense battlements of perpendicular rocks,
which, if we may judge from Bell's description of them,
surpass in grandeur the famous passage of the Poto-
mac through the Blue Ridge at Harper's Ferry. For
about a mile after leaving the lake, there is a continu-
ed rapid, extending across the whole breadth of the
stream, and admitting of no boat communication, ex-
cept by a narrow channel on the east side, up which
boats are towed, and propelled wdth poles, from the
village of St Nicholas into the lake. Around the en-
tire circumference of the lake, and particularly on the
north, lofty and craggy mountains are seen piled one
above another, in the wildest confusion, and masses of
rock rising like towers from the very margin of the
water. Down the ravines and precipices thus formed,
the numerous tributary streams pour themselves into
this great reservoir. Pallas was inclined to believe,
that the enormous gulf, which forms the basin of the
Baikal, was caused by a violent disruption of the earth,
at some very remote period.

The Selinga, a river which empties itself into this
lake from the south, is larger at its mouth than the
Angara, where it issues from the lake. It has its
source in the Chinese dominions, and is navigable for
many miles into the interior. Another river, called
the eastern Angara, and probably larger than the
Selinga, comes in from the north. To these must be
added the contributions of more than a hundred and

220 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

sixty Other streams of various sizes. It is difficult to
imagine, what becomes of the immense quantity of
water thus poured into the lake, when it is considered
that there is but a single outlet. The width of this
outlet Ledyard states at a quarter of a mile, but
Bell says it appeared to him a mile. In either case
the water discharged by it would be in no proportion
to the quantity, which falls into the lake. In a
warmer region, as in that where the lake Tsad is
situate in Africa, the surplus might be easily disposed
of by evaporation, but in so cold a climate as that of
Irkutsk, this is hardly possible. The conjecture of an
internal communication with the great ocean, would
seem to afford the only plausible solution of the diffi-
culty. Lake Superior contains a larger body of water,
has a small outlet, and is in a climate perhaps as cold,
but it receives comparatively slender contributions
from rivers. A similar remark may be made as to the
Caspian Sea, and the Sea of Aral. The water of the
Baikal is fresh. No bottom has ever yet been reached
by the sounding line. When Bell crossed it, a hun-
dred years ago, with the Russian ambassador on his
way to Pekin, a line of more than nine hundred feet
in length was let down, without touching the bottom.
The report of Professor Pallas on this point is not so
explicit, as might have been expected from a scientific
traveller. He says, that a ball of packthread, iveigli-
ing more than an ounce, had been used as a sounding
line, but no bottom was found.* What length he

* " Le Baikal a une si grande profondeur dans le milieu, et sur les
cotes septentrionales, qu'on a deroule un peloton de ficelle pesant plus
d'une once, pour sonder, sans trouver de fond." Voyages du Profes-
seur Pallas, Tom. VI. p. 118.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 221

would assign to an ounce of packthread is not revealed
to his readers. We have seen, that one hundred feet
from the shore, Ledyard's line of three hundred feet
met with no obstruction. On all sides the shore is
bold and dangerous, with hardly an anchoring place,
except at the mouths of the large rivers. If the water
could be removed, there would probably be exposed a
cavity, or fissure, equal to the present dimensions of
the lake, and extending to a great depth into the
earth. Professor Pallas thinks the ordinary level of
the lake was once higher, and that it flowed over the
low country at the mouth of the Selinga, which is
now inhabited. No lava, or volcanic appearances, have
been noticed in the regions about the lake.

It is considered very remarkable, that the fish called
Chien de mer is found in the Baikal. This is men-
tioned by Pallas and Ledyard. The natural element
of this fish is the ocean, and it is very rarely known, as
the Professor says, to enter rivers even for a small
distance. How it should get into the Baikal, a fresh
water lake at least three thousand miles from the
ocean, taking the windings of the river into the ac-
count, is deemed a problem of no easy solution, espe-
cially as this fish has never been known either in the
Yenissey, or Angara, by which the waters of the lake
pass into the Northern Sea.* He is not satisfied with
this course of migration, and would look for a more
extraordinary cause, but does not venture an opinion
on the subject. The Baikal contains seals, also, whose
usual residence is in the salt water. Whether they

* The Angara falls into the Yenissey on its way to the ocean.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

came up the Yenissey and Angara, is another ques-
tion to be settled. Bell thinks they did. Pallas is
silent on the subject, and so is Ledyard. The skins
of these seals are preferred to those of salt water
seals. The inhabitants have a treacherous mode of
taking these animals. In winter the seals are obliged
occasionally to come up through holes in the ice for
respiration ; over these holes the seal-catcher spreads
nets, in which the unwary animal is entangled, when
he escapes from his nether element.

In the part of the journal to which we have now
come, are contained some curious speculations respect-
ing the number of rivers in Siberia, and the quantity
of water, which is continually disembogued by them
into the Northern Ocean. On his route from Moscow
to Irkutsk, Ledyard had crossed twentyfive large navi-
gable rivers, whose courses were north. The Yenis-
sey, where he passed it, runs at the rate of about five
miles an hour, and generally the rivers on the east of
the Yenissey run tw o or three miles in an hour swifter
than the western ones, between the Yenissey and
Moscow. He thinks these twentyfive rivers, taken
together, had an average width of half a mile where he
crossed them. He, also, ascertained that there were
twelve rivers of a similar description between Irkutsk
and Kamtschatka, making in all thirtyseven. Allowing
these rivers to be twice as wide at their mouths, as at
these interior points, which is evidently a moderate
estimate, we shall have a column of water thirtyseven
miles wide, and of the average depth of rivers a mile
in width, constantly flowing into the Frozen Ocean,
with a velocity of at least three or four miles an hour.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

His inference from the whole is, that such an im-
mense body of fresh water incessantly discharged, at
points so near each other and so near the pole, must
have a sensible effect in creating and perpetuating the
ice in those latitudes. Whatever may be thought of
this theory, it is an unquestionable fact, that a
much larger quantity of water is conveyed by rivers
from Siberia into the Frozen Ocean, than runs into
the sea in any other part of the globe, within the
same compass. Whether these streams are mainly
fed by native springs, or by the melting of snows, and
whether the superabundance of these snows is pro-
duced by vapors wafted from warmer climes, are
topics of inquiry that must be left to those, who are
inclined to pursue them. Snow cannot be formed
without moisture, but where the surface of the earth
is bound in frost six or eight months in a year, there
can be little evaporation or moisture. If snow still
continues to fall and accumulate, whence is it that the
atmosphere is surcharged with the vapors necessary
for this operation ?

We left our traveller with his kibitka, on his first
day's journey from Irkutsk northward. It was now
the twentysixth of August, and the forest trees had
begun to drop their foliage, and put on the garb of
autumn. The country in the environs of Irkutsk was
well cultivated, containing fine fields of wheat, rye,
barley, extensive pasture lands, and a good breed of
cattle. The sheep were of the large-tailed kind, such
as are found at the Cape of Good Hope, but the mut-
ton was not well flavored.

224 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

In company with Lieutenant Laxman, a Swedish
officer, Ledjard embarked on the river Lena, at a
point one hundred and fifty miles distant from Irkutsk,
with the intention of floating down its current to
Yakutsk. This river navigation was fourteen hundred
miles. Where they entered their boat, the stream
was no more than twenty yards broad, with here and
there gentle rapids, and high, rugged mountains on
each side. They were carried along from eighty to
a hundred miles a day, the river gradually increasing
in size, and the mountain scenery putting on an
infinite variety of forms, alternately sublime and
picturesque, bold and fantastic, with craggy rocks
and jutting headlands, bearing on their brows the
verdure of pines, firs, larches, and other evergreens,
and Alpine shrubs. All the way to Yakutsk, the
river was studded with islands, recurring at short
intervals, which added to the romantic effect of the
scenery, and made a voyage down the Lena, not-
withstanding its many privations, by no means an un-
pleasant trip to a true lover of nature, and a hardy,
veteran traveller. The weather was growing cold,
and heavy fogs hung about the river till a late hour in
the morning. They daily passed small towns and
villages, where they went ashore for provisions, or re-
freshment, as occasion required.

" August 30th. We stopped at a village this
morning to procure a few stores. They killed for us
a sheep, gave us three quarts of milk, two loaves of
bread, cakes with carrots and radishes baked in them,
onions, one dozen of fresh and two dozen of salt fish,
straw and bark to mend the covering of our boat;

LIFE OF JOHN LEDTARD. 225

and all for the value of about fourteen pence sterling.
The poor creatures brought us the straw, to show us
how then- grain was blasted by the cruel frost, although
it had been reaped before the twentjfirst of August.
The peasants say the mountains here are full of bears
and wolves. We have seen a plenty of wild fowl,
which we shoot as we please. In the river is the
salmon-trout. The people fish with seines, and also
with spears by torchlight. This latter custom is a
very universal one ; they fish with a torch at Otaheite.
The double headed or Esquimaux paddle is used here.

" September 2d. My rascal of a soldier stole our
brandy, and got drunk, and was impertinent. I was
obliged to handle him roughly to preserve order. —
Fixed a little sail to our boat.

" September 4th. Arrived at the town of Keringa
at daylight, and stayed with the commandant till noon,
and was treated very hospitably. Some merchants
sent us stores. It is the custom here, if they hear of
the arrival of a foreigner, to load him with their little
services. It is almost impossible to pass a town of
any kind, without being arrested by them. They
have the earnestness of hospitality ; they crowd their
tables with everything they have to eat and drink, and,
not content with that, they fill your wallet. I wish I
could think them as honest, as they are hospitable.
The reason why the commandant did not show his
wife, was because he was jealous of her. I have
observed this to be a prevailing passion here. The
river on each side as we pass is bounded by vast
rocky cliffs, the highest mass of rocks I ever saw.
29

226 LIFE OF JOHN LED YARD.

" September 15th. Snow squalls with fresh gales ;
up all night at the helm mjself.

^'■September 17th. Ninety versts from Yakutsk.
Passed yesterday a very odd arrangement of rocks,
which line the margin of the river for sixty versts.
They are of talc, and appear formerly to have been
covered with earth, but are now entirely bare. They
are all of a pyramidal form, and about one hundred
and fifty feet in height ; detached at their bases, and
disposed with extraordinary regularity. These rocky
pyramids appear to terminate the long mountainous
south and east banks of the Lena, which have uni-
formly continued from Katchuga, where 1 first em-
barked on the river."

On the eighteenth of September he arrived at Ya-
kutsk, after a fatiguing voyage of twentytwo days, in
a small bateau on the Lena. During this period, he
had passed from a summer climate to one of rigorous
cold. When he left Irkutsk, it was just in the midst
of harvest time, and the reapers were in the fields ;
but when he entered Yakutsk, the snow was six
inches deep, and the boys were whipping their tops
on the ice. He debarked from his bateau two miles
above the town, and there mounted a sledge, drawn by
an ox, with a Yakuti Indian on his back, and guided
by a cord passing through the cartilage of his nose.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 227

CHAPTER X.

Interview with the Commandant of Yakutsk. — Stopped at this place on account
of the advanced state of the season. — His severe disappointment at this
event. — Detained under false pretences. — Takes up his residence in Yakutsk
for the winter. — Elephant's bones on the banks of the Lena, and in other
parts of the country. — General remarks on the various tribes of Tartars in
Siberia. — Characteristics of savages in cold and warm climates. — Kalmuks
have two modes of writing. — Their manner of living. — The Yakuti Tartars. —
Influence of religion upon them. — The love of freedom common to all the
Tartars. — Their dwellings. — Intermarriages between the Russians and Tar-
tars.— In what degree the color of descendants is affected by such intermar-
riages.— Peculiarities of features in the Tartar countenance. — Form and use of
the Tartar pipe. — Dress. — Difficulty of taking vocabularies of unknown lan-
guages.— Marriage ceremonies. — Notions of theology. — Practice of scalping. —
Wampum. — Classification of the Tartars and North American Indians. —
Language a criterion for judging of the affinity between the different races of
men. — Causes of the difference of color in the human race. — Tartars and
American Indians the same people.

Ledyard immediately waited on the commandant,
delivered his letter from the Governor General, and
made known his situation and designs. It was his
wish to press forward with as much expedition as pos-
sible to Okotsk, lest the winter should shut in before
he could reach that town, where he hoped to seize
upon the first opportunity in the spring, to secure a
passage to the American continent. The distance
from Yakutsk was between six and seven hundred
miles. Lodgings were provided for him by order of
the Commandant, with whom he had already dined,
and who soon after came to sec him. Imagine his
dismay, when the Commandant assured him, that the
season was already so far advanced as to render a
Journey to Okhotsk impossible.

228 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYAKD,

" What, alas, shall I do," exclaims he in his journal,
" for I am miserably prepared for this unlooked for de-
lay. By remaining here through the winter, I cannot
expect to resume my march until May, which will be
eight months. My funds ! I have but two long fro-
zen stages more, and I shall be beyond the want, or
aid of money, until, emerging from the deep deserts,
I gain the American Atlantic States ; and then, thy
glowing climates, Africa, explored, I will lay me down,
and claim my little portion of the globe I have view-
ed ; may it not be before. How many of the noble
minded have been subsidiary to me, or to my enter-
prises ; yet that meagre demon, Poverty, has travelled
with me hand in hand over half the globe, and wit-
nessed what — the tale I will not unfold ! Ye children
of wealth and idleness, what a profitable commerce
might be made between us. A little of my toil
might better brace your bodies, give spring to mind and
zest to enjoyment ; and a very little of that wealth,
which you scatter around you, would put it beyond
the power of anything but death to oppose my kindred
greetings vi'ith all on earth, that bear the stamp of
map. This is the third time, that I have been over-
taken and arrested by winter ; and both the others, by
giving time for my evil genius to rally his hosts about
me, have defeated the enterprise. Fortune, thou hast
humbled me at last, for I am this moment the slave of
cowardly solicitude, lest in the heart of this dread
winter, there lurk the seeds of disappointment to my
ardent desire of gaining the opposite continent. But
I submit."

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 229

These melancholy forebodings were but too literally
verified, as the issue will prove. In a letter to
Colonel Smith from Yakutsk, he speaks again of this
disappointment in the following manner.

" The Commandanl assured me, that he had orders
from the Governor General to render me all possible
kindness and service ; 'But, Sir,' continued he, ' the
first service I am bound to render you is, to beseech
you not to attempt to reach Okotsk this winter.' He
spoke to me in French. I almost rudely insisted on
being permitted to depart immediately, and expressed
surprise that a Yakuti Indian, and a Tartar horse,
should be thought incapable of following a man, born
and educated in the latitude of forty. He declared
upon his honor, that the journey was impracticable.
The contest lasted two or three days, in which inter-
val, being still fixed in my opinion, I was preparing
for the journey. The Commandant at length waited
on me, and brought with him a trader, a very good,
respectable looking man of about fifty, as a witness to
the truth and propriety of his advice to me. This
trader, for ten or twelve years, had passed and repassed
often from Yakutsk to Okotsk. I was obliged, how-
ever severely I might lament the misfortune, to yield to
two such advocates for my happiness. The trader
held out to me all the horrors of the winter, and the
severity of the journey at the best season ; and the
Commandant, the goodness of his house and the soci-
ety here, all of which would be at my service. The
difficulty of the journey I was aware of; but when 1
assented to its impracticability, it was a compliment ;
for I do not believe it is so, nor hardly anything else.

230 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

" It is certainly bad in theory to suppose the seasons
can triumph over the efforts of an honest man. The
proifered hospitality of the Commandant I have no
doulDt was sincere, because in Russia generally, and
particularly in Siberia, it is the fashion to be hospita-
ble. It is probable, also, that it is a natural principle.
I should, however, have said less to them about the
matter, held 1 not been without clothes, and w^ith only
a guinea and one fourth in my purse ; and in a place
where the necessaries of life are dearer than in Eu-
rope, and clothing still dearer by the same comparison.
And, besides, the people of all descriptions here, as far
as they are able, live in all the excess of Asiatic luxu-
ry, joined with such European excesses, as have
migrated hither. Add to all these, that they are uni-
versally and extremely ignorant, and adverse to every
species of intellectual enjoyment, and I will declare to
you, that I was never before so totally at a loss how to
accommodate myself to my situation. The only con-
solation I have, of the argumentative kind, is to reflect,
that he who travels for information must be supposed
to want it. By being here eight months, I shall be
able to make my observations much more extensive,
respecting the country and its inhabitants, than if I
had passed directly through it ; and this also is a
satisfaction."

It being thus determined, against his opinion and
wishes, that he should not proceed, he resolved to
reconcile himself to his fate, and to make the best use
of his time, which circumstances would allow. He
had entered the following memorandum in his journal,
while coming down the Lena. " Yakutsk is the last

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 231

place where I shall be able to make any inquiries,
therefore let them be extensive." He now set him-
self earnestly to the task of complying with this in-
junction, and of collecting as much information as
possible. The facts and reflections, which he thought
worth preserving, are recorded in his diary without
method or connexion. It was his manner, as we have
already seen, to write down only hints, to state facts
briefly, and throw out his own remarks upon them in
language concise and unstudied. These particulars,
as heretofore, must be remembered in reading the free
extracts, which will be made from the part of his
journal written at Yakutsk.

There is some room for doubt, whether the Com-
mandant was perfectly honest, in advising and per-
suading Ledyard to desist from his purpose of pro-
ceeding immediately to Okotsk. In the first place, it
was certainly not an uncommon thing to perform that
journey in the winter, and the Commandant's tender
concern for the sufferings of the traveller, who knew
what was before him, and was eager to grapple with
every hardship in the way, could scarcely be such as to
induce him, from this motive alone, to urge his delay
for eight months in Yakutsk. His bringing in the
trader to strengthen his argument, on the same benev-
olent grounds, is moreover a suspicious circumstance.
Ledyard yielded to their persuasions, against his will
and his judgment, and was only surprised that he
should meet two men in Siberia, entire strangers to
him, who should have his happiness so much at heart.

Again, the original letter of recommendation from
Jacobi, the Governor General of Irkutsk, to the Com-

232 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

mandant of Yakutsk, has been preserved amongst
Ledyard's papers. It is written in the Russian lan-
guage and character.* After recommending the bearer
in general terms, and stating that he wished to pass
through to the American continent, with a view of
acquiring a knowledge of that country, Jacobi adds ;
" His object seems to be, that of joining a certain
secret naval expedition ; I earnestly request you,
therefore, to receive Mr Ledyard most kindly, and to
assist him every possible way in all his wishes, and to
forward him without the least delay to the above men-
tioned expedition." The passage in this letter de-
manding particular attention, is that in which the
Governor General enjoins it on the Commandant, with
marked emphasis, to treat him kindly, and send him
forward according to his wishes without delay. Now
if he had given this order seriously, it would not have
been done, unless it was intended to be obeyed, and
Jacobi knew very well whether the journey was prac-
ticable at the season, when the letter would arrive ;
and if it was in fact a serious and positive order, it is
not likely that the Commandant would have hesitated
to carry it instantly into effect. My inference is, that
there were secret instructions sent at the same time
to detain Ledyard in Yakutsk, and that the Comman-
dant for this purpose resorted to the artifice of a pre-
tended concern for his health and comfort, that all
suspicions of any designed interference might be lulled

* A translation of tliis letter was procured from the Russian Lega-
tion, through the politeness of Mr Poletica, while he was minister from
the court of Petersburg to the United States.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 233

to sleep. It is remarkable, too, that the letter of
recommendation was sent open, and was returned to
Ledyard after having been read by the Commandant.
This manceuvre was artfully contrived to quiet his ap-
prehensions, and cause him to believe, that the Gov-
ernor General had taken a lively interest in his suc-
cess, and was disposed to render him efficient aid. To
this subject I shall have occasion to recur.

Meantime let us return to the occupations of the
traveller, while he was thus unconsciously a prisoner
at Yakutsk. He pursued with diligence his inquiries,
and lost no opportunity of seeking knowledge wher-
ever he could find it, particularly on those topics,
which he was fond of contemplating. In the letter
to Colonel Smith, mentioned above, are contained
some observations, besides those already quoted, which
are in harmony with the writer's usual turn of mind,
and mode of expressing his thoughts.

" I cannot say, that my voyage on the Lena has
furnished me with anything new, and yet no traveller
ever passed by scenes, that more constantly engage
the heart and the imagination. I suppose no two
philosophers would think alike about them. A painter
and a poet would be much more likely to agree.
There are some things, however, not unworthy of a
philosophical inquiry. The Lena is very indifferent
for navigation, from this place towards Irkutsk. In
some mountains near the river are large salt, mines,
which afford a supply to all the adjacent country. It
is pure, solid, transparent, mineral salt, and found in
veins. The pieces that I have seen, with the Com-
mandant here, are six and nine inches square. When
30

234 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

pulverized for the table, it is much the most delicate
salt I ever saw, of a perfect white, and an agreeable
taste, but I imagine not so strong by one third, as our
West India salt. There are also upon the banks of
the Lena, and indeed all over this country, great
quantities of elephants' bones. The Commandant
possesses some of the teeth of that animal, larger than
any I saw in the royal museum at Petersburg, and
they are as sound as they ever were. The hafts of
knives, spoons, and a variety of other things are here
made of them, and they equal any ivory I have seen
from Africa. If I can, I will send you a specimen of
this fine bone, and of the salt likewise. Indeed, I
want to send you many things, but it is an embarrass-
ing circumstance, when one has correspondents in the
antipodes. And though no man could show more
kindness, or render more service to a traveller, than
Dr Pallas has done to me, yet I am reserved in asking
them upon all occasions. Brown and Porter, too ; — I
wonder their patience is not exhausted. It has been
as thoroughly tried, as yours was while I was at Pe-
tersburg.

" The fact is, I am a bankrupt to the world, but I
hope it will consider well the occasion of my being
such. I believe it will. My English creditors are
the most numerous, and I have great consolation on
that account, because they think and act with such
heavenly propriety. In most parts of the world, and
as much in Russia as anywhere, and in Siberia most
of all, it is the custom not to think at all. In this
case it is difficult to liquidate, rationally, a receipt and
expenditure of three dinners and a bow. For the

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD, 235

same reason, when I left France my accounts were
not closed, and from that day to this I know not
whether I owe France, or France ow^es me. But here
at Yakutsk it will be infinitely worse, and without
nnj violence to the metaphor, or pedantic affectation,
I declare to you, that, to leave Yakutsk with respecta-
bility and reach Okotsk alive, will be to pass a Scylla
and Chary bdis, which I have never yet encountered.
Both you, myself, and my friends, had formed at
London very erroneous opinions of the equipment
necessary to pass through this country, and particu-
larly as to the manner of travelling. It has been the
source of all my troubles. They have been many,
and I have done Wrong to feel them so severely. 1
owe the world some services, which I shall make
great efforts to perform. Make my best compliments
to my friends, and tell them that I have a heart as big
as St Paul's Church in such service as theirs."

The mistake here alluded to, in regard to the mode
of travelling, was the plan formed by himself and his
friends in London, that he should walk, as being more
economical. By experiment he proved this to have
been an ill advised scheme, for walking not only con-
sumed a great deal more time, but the expenses in the
aggregate w^ere higher, than by the usual mode of
travelling post through those countries. In a letter
from Irkutsk he says, " It has been to this moment a
source of misfortune to me, that I did not begin to
ride post from Hamburg. I have footed it at a great
expense, besides the loss of my baggage, which I
severely feel. Never did I adopt an idea so fatal to
my happiness." The reason why he viewed this

236 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

oversight in so serious an aspect was, that it would
inevitably be the cause of keeping him back, a full
season, from his passage across the sea to the Ameri-
can continent, and thus in the end a whole year
would be lost. Add to this the innumerable accidents,
that might intervene to defeat his purpose altogether.
Whereas, had he proceeded by the shortest conveyance
from Hamburg to the Russian capital, he might with
great ease have reached Kamtschatka the same sea-
son. The origin of his disasters may chiefly be re-
ferred, however, to his fit of romantic benevolence in
seeking out Major Langborn; wasting his precious
time in Copenhagen, and sharing with his erratic
countryman his scanty means, which, in their whole
amount, were scarcely enough to keep himself alone
from beggary.

I shall now bring together, in as connected a form
as the nature of the particulars will admit, Ledyard's
observations on various tribes of Tartars, with whom
he became more or less acquainted in Siberia. His
researches were desultory, but pursued with inquisi-
tiveness ; his statements are often curious, sometimes
important ; they will afford amusement to the general
reader, as well as information to the philosophical
inquirer.

^' Of all the gradations of men, the savage is the
most formal and ceremonious, notwithstanding his
wants and occupations are few, and he can with happy
indifference endure privation. His heaven is peace
and leisure. Ceremonials, like the uninterrupted
tenor of his mind, may be supposed to be transmitted
unchanged through many generations. Hence many

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 237

things, which marked the earliest period of history,
and which have left no vestige with civilized man,
show themselves at this day among savages. Their
luxuries, if such they may be called, are of that kind
which nature suggests. Dress, which in hot climates
is an inconvenience, does not become so much the ob-
ject of attention and delight ; and here, therefore, the
savage is more nice in the indulgence of his appetites.
On the contrary, in cold climates, bodily covering
being all important, ingenuity is directed to that point.
A feeble kind of infant fancy grows out of the efforts
of necessity, and displays its little arts in adorning
the person with awkward and fantastic decorations.
But here the appetites are less lively and distinguish-
ing. With respect to food, the vilest, and that totally
unprepared, does not come amiss, and the most deli-
cate is not seized with eagerness. Give a cake to a
Swedish Laplander, Finlander, or northern Tartar,
and he eats it leisurely ; do the same to an Otaheitan,
Italian peasant, or Spanish fisherman, and he will put
the whole cake into his mouth if he can. The Em-
press has caused houses to be built in the Russian
manner, at the expense of government, and ordered
them to be offered to the Yakuti, upon the single con-
dition of their dwelling in them ; but they have univer-
sally refused, preferring their apparently more uncom-
fortable Yourtes or Wigwams.

"The Tongusians are a wandering people, living
solely by the chase. They rarely stop above two or
three days in a place. They have tents or yourtes,
made of bark, which they leave on the spot where
they have encamped. When they march they tell

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

their women that they are going to such a mountain,
river, lake, or forest, and leave them to bring the bag-
gage. They are extremely active in the chase, and
instances have occurred in which they were found
dead, having pursued their game down some precipice.

" The Kalmuks, or Buretti, write their language in
columns, like the Chinese ; the Kazan Tartars from
right to left, like the Hebrews.* The reason why the
Buretti have the art of writing is, that they last mi-
grated from the borders of Thibet. There is not
another Asiatic tribe in all Siberia, that write their
language, or have any remains of writing among
them.f The sound of the Yakuti language very
closely resembles that of the Chinese ; and the same,
indeed, may be said of the languages of all the Asiatic
Tartars. I have already observed, that the Yakuti is
supposed to be the oldest language, and that other
tribes have some knowledge of it.

*^ The Kaimuks live mostly by their flocks, which
consist of horses, sheep, goats, and cows. In summer
they dwell in the plains, in winter retreat to the

* Dr Clarke mentions having procured at Taganrog, on the sea of
Azof, a specimen of writing from the Kalmuk priests. The characters
were arranged in columns on scarlet linen, and read from the top to
the bottom. After returning to England he was informed, that this
writing was Sanscrit. He adds, that the Kalmuks in that part of
Asia had two modes of writing, one with the vulgar character, so
called, and the other with the sacred. This latter is read from left to
right, like the European languages ; the former in columns, and would
seem to be Sanscrit. Clarke's Travels, Vol. I. c. 15.

f It must be observed, that Ledyard everywhere speaks of the
Buretti as the same people with the Kalmuks, and both as direct
descendants of the Mongul Tartars. What he says of either, there-
fore, may coniraonly be applied to the other.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 239

mountains, where their flocks feed oo buds, twigs of
trees, and moss. They have much milk, which serves
them for food, and of which they also make a kind of
brandy.* They likewise hunt. When any of their
flock are sick, or lame, they kill and eat them.

" I observe there is one continual flow of good na-
ture and cheerfulness among the Tartars. They
never abuse each other by words, but, when provoked,
look for revenge, either secret or open. The Tongu-
sians fight duels with their bows, and with knives.
They, and the other roving Tartars, have the limits
of their hunting grounds ascertained and marked, like
the aborigines of North America.

" The Yakuti here take their children out in the
evening, and teach them the names of the principal
stars, how to direct their march by them, and how to
judge of the weather. Astronomy must have been
an early science. The Russ and Yakuti appear to live
together here in harmony and peace, without any dis-
tinction as to national difference, or superiority and in-
feriority. I know of but one circumstance, (but, alas !
it is an important one,) in which the Yakuti are not
on an equal footing with the Russ, They hold no
offices, civil or military. The Russians have been
here two hundred and fifty years, and the Yakuti

* The manner of extracting this spirituous liquor from milk is large-
ly described by Pallas. The milk is first fermented, in which state it
contains a vinous acid. It is then subjected to the usual process of
distillation, and the result is a species of liquor, which has intoxicating
qualities, and of which the Kalmuks are very fond. Mare's milk is
considered the best for this purpose, and cow's milk the next. The
milk of sheep is seldom distilled, as it contains but a small quantity of
the spirituous principle. Voyages du Professeur Pallas, Tom. 11. pp.
168—175.

240 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

Tartars have been under the Russian government ever
since, yet have they made no alteration in their dress
or manners in general ; but the Russians have con-
formed to the dress of the Yakuti. Very few of them
have embraced the Christian religion, and those,
who have, perform its duties with great indifference.
In this respect, also, the Tartar, whether in Asia
or America, acts up to that sui generis character,
which distinguishes him from other branches of the
human family. Religion of any kind, professed by any
other people, is usually a serious, contemplative, and
important concern, and forms at least as reniarkable a
trait in their character, as any circumstance of fashion
or habit ; but it forms no part of the character of a
Tartar. I have not in my mind the Christian system
particularly; its doctrines are indeed mysterious to
the greatest minds and best hearts. To a Tartar they,
must surely be so. The surprise is therefore the less,
why they should so feebly affect the Tartar character.
But the Mahometan system, which courts the senses,
and appeals to the passions, has operated no farther on
the Tartar, than to shave his head. There it stops ; it
does not enter it, nor his heart.

" The Tartar is a man of nature, not of art. His
philosophy is therefore very simple, but sometimes
sublime. Let us enumerate some ol his virtues. He
is a lover of peace. No lawyer here, perplexing
natural rights of property. No wanton Helen, dis-
playing fatal charms. No priest with his outrageous
zeal has ever disturbed the peace. Never, I believe,
did a Tartar speak ill of the Deity, or envy his fellow
creatures. He is contented to be what he is. Hospit-

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 241

able and humane, he is uniformly tranquil and cheer-
ful, laconic in thought, word, and action. This is one
great reason, and I think the greatest, why they have
been constantly persecuted by nations of a different
disposition, and why they have always fled before
them, and been content to live anywhere, if they
could only live in peace. Some have attributed this
conduct to a love of liberty. True ; but their ideas,
both of peace and liberty, are different from ours.
The Tartar holds in equal estimation his dear otium,
and his libertas. They talk much of liberty in Eng-
land, for example, but I think it would be less agree-
able for a Tartar to live there, than in Russian Siberia,
where there is less liberty. The Tartars, indeed,
think differently from most people of Europe, and, I
believe, of Africa. If the Virginia planters were to
give their Negroes more commodious houses to inhabit,
instead of their poor huts, and encourage them other-
wise to live in them, I believe the African would be of
the same mind as the planter, and gladly accept the
proposal. The same thing exactly has been offered
here to the Yakuti by the crown ; they have much
stronger inducements to accept the offer than the
African ; but they have not, and they will not, though
no condition accompanies the offer. They will in-
habit the yourte.

" The yourte, or, as the American Tartars call it
pretty generally, wigwam, is in this country a substi-
tute for a tent. In milder climates it is made either
of skins or bark of trees, of sedge or some other kind
of grass. It is always of a conical form, not divided
into apartments, having an aperture at the top, and
31

242 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

the fire made on the ground under it. Around the
sides of the yourte, if it is only temporary, are placed
the baggage and furniture ; if it is not temporary,
seats for sitting and sleeping upon are ranged around
the sides. The yourtes in the neighborhood of Rus-
sian towns and settlements are made a little different-
ly ; they are sunk two or three feet in the ground,
square, and divided into apartments, the frame of
wood, the sides plastered with mud, and a Hat roof
covered with earth. The fire is in the centre, with a
slight little chimney. They have two or three little
windows ; in summer, of talc ; in winter, of ice. One
apartment of the yourte is for the cow, ox, or horse,
if the owner should possess any. These yourtes re-
semble not a tent; but remote from towns all the Tar-
tars have tents either of skins, bark, or grass.

" The people in this country, that are born half
Russ and half Tartar, are very different from the Tar-
tars or Russ, and much superior to either of them.
The European nations, that intermarry most with
other nations, are the handsomest. How far may this
. cause be supposed to have made the Negro, and the
Tartar, so different from the European ; or, which is
more probable, have made the European so different
from the Tartar and Negro? The Commandant
showed me recently a man descended from a Yakuti
father and Russian mother, and the son of this man.
The color of the first descendant is as fair as the
second, and both as fair as the Russian mother and
grandmother. After the first descent, intermarriage
has a less perceptible effect on the color. This
change of the color by intermarriage is generally from

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 243

the darker to the lighter. The color of the hair and,
eyes also inclines to be light, but does not always ac-
company the change of color in the skin. Upon the
whole, as I have said before, with respect to difference
of color with the Indian and European, they appear to
me to be the effect of natural causes. I have given
much attention to the subject on this continent. Tts
vast extent, and the variety of its inhabitants, afford
the best field in the world in which to examine it.
By the same gentle gradation, by which I passed
from the height of civilization at Petersburg to incivi-
lization in Siberiay I also passed from the fair Euro-
pean to the copper colored Tartar ; I say the copper
colored Tartar, but there is the same variety of color
among the Tartars in Siberia, as among the other
nations of the earth. The journal of a Russian offi-
cer, which I have seen, informs me that the Samoi-
edes, among whom he lived two years, are fairer than
the Yakuti, who are of a light olive, and fairer than
the Tongusians, or the Buretti, who are copper color-
ed. Yet the three last mentioned tribes are all Mon-
gul Tartars. The greater part of mankind, compared
with European civilization, are uncivilized, and this
part are all darker than the other. There are no
white savages, and few barbarous people, that are not
brown or black.

"The equally distinguishing characteristic of fea-
ture, in the Tartar face, invites me into a field of obser-
vation, which 1 am not able at present to give bounds to.
I must therefore resign it to those, who have leisure
and a taste for such inquiries, contenting myself with
furnishing a few facts, and describing this strange dis-

244 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

similarity in the human face, according to the observa-
tions I have made. This I should be able to do ana-
tomically, but I am not. The Tartar face, in the first
impression it gives, approaches nearer to the African
than the European ; and this impression is strengthen-
ed, on a more deliberate examination of the individual
features, and whole compages of the countenance ;
yet it is very different from an African face. The
nose forms a strong feature in the human face. I have
seen instances among the Kalmuks, where the nose
between the eyes has been much flatter and broader,
than I have ever witnessed in Negroes ; and some
few instances where it has been as broad over the nos-
trils quite to the end ; but the nostrils in any case are
much smaller than in Negroes. Where I have seen
those noses, they were accompanied with a large
mouth and thick lips ; and these people were genuine
Kalmuk Tartars. The nose protuberates but little
from the face, and is shorter than that of the Euro-
pean. The eyes universally are at a great distance
from each other, and very small ; at each corner of the
eye the skin projects over the ball ; the part appears
swelled ; the eyelids go in nearly a strait line from
corner to corner. When open, the eye appears as in
a square frame. The mouth generally, however, is
of a middling size, and the lips thin. The next re-
markable features are the cheek bones. These, like
the eyes, are very remote from each other, high,, broad,
and withal project a little forward. The face is flat.
When I look at a Tartar en profile, I can hardly see
the nose between the eyes, and if he blow a coal of
fire, I cannot see the nose at all. The face is then

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 245

like an inflated bladder. The forehead is narrow and
low. The face has a fresh color, and on the cheek
bones there is commonly a good ruddy hue.

" The faces of Tartars have not a variety of ex-
pression. 1 think the predominating one is pride ;
but whenever I have viewed them, they have seen a
stranger. The intermixture by marriage does not
operate so powerfully in producing a change of fea-
tures, as of complexion, in favor of Europeans. I
have seen the third in descent, and the Tartar prevailed
over the European features. The Tartars from time
immemorial (I mean the Asiatic Tartars) have be^n
a people of a wandering disposition. Their converse
has been more among beasts of the forest, than among
men ; and when among men, it has only been those
of their own nation. They have ever been savages,
averse to civilization, and have never until very lately
mingled with other nations, and now rarely. What-
ever cause may have originated their peculiarities of
features, the reason why they still continue is their
secluded way of life, which has preserved them from
mixing with other people. I am ignorant, how far a
constant society with beasts may operate in changing
the features, but I am persuaded that this circum-
stance, together with an uncultivated state of mind,
if we consider a long and uninterrupted succession of
ages, must account in some degree for this remarkable
singularity.

" Mr John Hunter of London has made, or is mak-
ing, some anatomical examinations of the head of a
Negro, which is said externally at least to resemble
that of a monkey. If I could do it, I would send

246 LIFE OF JOHN LEUYARD.

him the head of a Tartar, who lives by the chase, and
is constantly in the society of animals, which have
high cheek bones ; and perhaps, on examining such a
head, he would find an anatomical resemblance to the
fox, the wolf, the bear, or the dog. I have thought,
that even in Europe mechanical employments, having
been continued for a long time among the same peo-
ple, have had a considerable influence in giving a uni-
form character to their features. I know of no people,
among whom there is such a uniformity of features,
(except the Chinese, the Jews, and the Negroes) as
among the Asiatic Tartars. They are distinguished,
indeed, by different tribes, but this is only nominal.
Nature has not acknowledged the distinction, but, on
the contrary, marked them, wherever found, with the
indisputable stamp of Tartars. Whether in Nova
Zembla, Mongolia, Greenland, or on the banks of the
Mississippi, they are the same people, forming the
most numerous, and, if we must except the Chinese,
the most ancient nation of the globe. But I, for
myself, do not except the Chinese, because I have no
doubt of their being of the same family.

" The Tongusians, the Tchuktchi, the Kuriles, and
the Nova Zembleans are tattooed. The Mohegan tribe
of Indians in America practised tattooing. I find as
yet nothing analagous to the American calumet, except
in the use of it. The Tartars here, when they smoke
the pipe, give it round to every one in the company.
The form of the pipe is universally the identical form
of the Chinese pipe. I expect to find it in America,
since the form of the pipe on the tomahock resembles
it. This form intimates economy, and that the origi-

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 247

nal custom of smoking the pipe was a mere luxury.
It holds but a very little. The manner, in which the
Tartars and Chinese use it, corroborates that idea.
They make but one or two drafts from the pipe, and
those they swallow, or discharge through the nose,
and then put the pipe by. They say that the smoke
thus taken is exhilarating. As the Chinese pipe is
found universally among the Siberian Tartars, I think
it probable that the custom of smoking migrated with
them to America, and thence by Sir Walter Raleigh
made its way east to England. If so, the custom has
travelled in a singular manner. Why did it not come
from the Tartars west to England ?

" The Asiatic Tartars never change their dress ; it
is the same on all occasions ; in the field, in the house,
on a visit, on a holiday. They never have but one
dress, and that is as fine as they can make it. Those
that live with the Russians in their villages are above
mediocrity as to riches, but discover the same indiffer-
ence about accumulating more, and for the concerns of
tomorrow, that a North American Indian does. They
stroll about the village, and, if they can, get drunk,
smoke their pipe, or go to sleep. The gardens of the
Russians are cultivated more or less, but theirs lie
undisturbed. The house of the Russian is a scene of
busy occupation, filled with furniture, provisions,
women, children, dirt, and noise ; that of the Tartar
is as silent and as clean as a mosque. If the season
admits, the residents are all abroad, unless perhaps an
old woman or man. There is very little furniture,
and that rolled up and bound in parcels in a corner of
the house, and no appearance of provisions. If it

248 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

happen, that they profess the Russian religion, they
treat it with strange indifference, not thinkingly, but
because they do not think at all about it.

" I have not as yet taken any vocabularies of the
Tartar languages. If I take any, they will be very
short ones. Nothing is more apt to deceive than vo-
cabularies, when taken by an entire stranger. Men
of scientific curiosity make use of them in investigat-
ing questions of philosophy, as well as history, and I
think often with too much confidence, since nothing is
more difficult, than to take a vocabulary, that shall
answer any good ends for such a purpose. The dif-
ferent sounds of the same letters, and of the same
combinations of letters, in the languages of Europe,
present an insurmountable obstacle to making a
vocabulary, which shall be of general use. The dif-
ferent manner, also, in which persons of the same
language would write the words of a new language,
would be such, that a stranger might suppose them to
be two languages. Most uncultivated languages are
very difficult to be ortJiographized in another language.
They are generally guttural ; but when not so, the
ear of a foreigner cannot accommodate itself to the
inflection of the speaker's voice, soon enough to catch
the true sound. This must be done instantaneously ;
and even in a language with which we are acquainted,
we are not able to do it for several years. I seize,
for instance, the accidental moment, when a savage is
inclined to give me the names of things. The me-
dium of this conversation is only signs. The savage
may wish to give me the word for head, and lays his
hand on the top of his head. I am not certain

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 249

whether he means the head, or the top of the head, or
perhaps the hair of the head. He may wish to say
leg, and puts his hand to the calf. I cannot tell
whether he means the leg, or the calf, oy flesh, or the
flesh. There are other difficulties. The island of
Onalaska is on the coast of America opposite to Asia.
There are a few Russian traders on it. Being there
with Captain Cook, I was walking one day on the
shore in company with a native, who spoke the Rus-
sian language. I did not understand it. I was writ-
ing the names of several things, and pointed to the
ship, supposing he would miderstand that I wanted
the name of it. He answered me in a phrase, which
in Russ meant, / know. I wrote down, a ship. I
gave him some snuff, which he took, and held out his
hand for more, making use of a word, which signified
in Russ, a little. I wrote, more.

" The Asiatic Tartars have different methods of
hunting the moose, and such kind of game, but the
most prevalent is like that of American Indians by
stratagem. So they catch ducks at the mouth of the
river Kolyma ; so the Otaheitans catch fish some-
times ; and so the uncivilized parts of mankind war
against each other.

" I understand from Captain Billings's Journal, that
the universal method among the Tchuktchi Indians,
in the ceremony of marriage, is for the man to pur-
chase the woman, or make presents to her parents. It
is also customary for the young man to serve a stipu-
lated time with the parents of the bride. In case of
disunion afterwards, Vi^hich happens without passion,
the presents that have been made are returned. If
32

250 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

either party dies, the other marries again as soon as
convenient ; and the sooner the better, they say, be-
cause they ought not to lament what can be repaired.
I suppose the love in this case below that, which ex-
isted in the bosoms of Eloise and Abelard, and I sup-
pose the philosophy as much above theirs, as the love
is below.*

" All the Asiatic Tartars, like the aborigines of
America, entertain the same general notions of theo-
logy, namely, that there is one great and good God,
and that he is so good that they have no occasion to
address him for the bestowment of any favors ; and,
being good, he will certainly do them no injury. But
they suffer many calamities ; so they say there is
another being, the source of eyil ; and that he must
be very powerful, because the evils inflicted on them
are numerous. To this mischievous deity, therefore,
they sacrifice. From him they expect no favors, and
do not ask any, but deprecate his wrath. Their

* The following description from Dr Clarke's Travels, is applied to
the Kalrauks where he travelled on the borders of Persia, in the coun-
try of the Cossacs. " The ceremony of marriag-e," says he, " among
the Kaliniiks is performed on horseback. A girl is first mounted, who
rides oif in full speed. Her lover pursues ; if lie overtakes her, she be-
comes his wife, and the marriage is consummated upon the spot. After
this she returns with him to his tent. But it sometimes happens, that
the woman does not wish to marry the person by whom she is pursued ;
in this case she will not suffer him to overtake her. We were assured,
that no instance occurs of a Kalmuk girl being thus caught, unless she
have a partiality for her pursuer. If she dislikes him, she rides, to use
the language of English sportsmen, neck or nothing, until she has com-
pletely effected her escape, or until the pursuer's horse becomes ex-
hausted, leaving her at liberty to return, and to be afterwards chased
by some more favored admirer." Vol. I. c. 15.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 251

Shamants, or priests, have therefore nothmg to do
with the good God ; their business is solely with the
other, whom they make free to parcel out into a great
variety of characters, assigning to each evil a presid-
ing subordinate spirit. This affords the Shamant an
opportunity of playing his tricks in an extraordinary
manner.

" Mr Pennant observes, that the Scythians scalped
their enemies. I have ever thought, since my voyage
with Captain Cook, that the same custom under dif-
ferent forms exists throughout the islands in the Paci-
fic Ocean. It is worthy of remark, that though the
Indians at Owhyhee brought a part of Captain Cook's
head, yet they had cut all the hair off, which they did
not return to us. I have also frequently observed the
islanders to wear great quantities of false human hair.
All savage nations are fond of preserving some badge
or testimonial of the victory over their enemies, of this
kind. The ancient Scythians and North American
Indians have preferred the scalp, and, among the
South Sea Islanders, teeth and hair are in repute ; all
of them giving preference to some part of the head.

" The ivampum, so universally in use among the
Tartars apparently as an ornament, I cannot but sus-
pect is used as a substitute for letters in representing
their language, by a kind of hieroglyphic record. I
intended to make this a subject of attention, and to
have drawings taken of the Asiatic and American
wampum, with the view of comparing them, but have
not been able to do it. I have seen the initials of a
Tartar's name worked in the wampum, on the borders
of his garment. A people having such great respect

252 LIFE OF JOHiXLEDYARD.

for their ancestors, as the Tartars have, would natu-
rally endeavor to preserve some memorials of them."
Such are the observations of our traveller, on the
aboriginal inhabitants of Siberian Asia. In consider-
ing the Kalmuks, Buretti, Tongusians, and Yakuti, as
descendants of the Monguls, he accords with other
writers, but he advances a bold and novel opinion in
classifying all these races with the North American
Indians, Greenlanders, and the Chinese. It is true,
the point seems never to have been established, how "
far the affinities between different tribes, or nations of
men, must be carried, in order to bring them within
the same general class. Traditions, ceremonies, bodi-
ly form and features, habits, laws, religion, and re-
semblance of languages, must all be taken into the
account. Where there is a similarity in many of
these particulars, it may be safely inferred, that the
people among whom they exist, although inhabiting
regions remote from each other, have sprung from a
common origin ; but it does not follow with equal
probability, that where this similarity is least observa-
ble, or perhaps unperceived, they are to be set down
as radically distinct races of men. So innumerable
are the causes of change, in all these respects, that no
rule of this sort can be assumed, as applicable to any
individual case whatever. Customs, laws, pursuits,
dress, modes of life, vary with the climate and the
productions of the soil. People, who live by the
chase and by fishing, will have few of the habits of
agriculturists. Approaches to civilization will gradu-
ally introduce a thousand new customs.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 253

Language has been thought the best criterion, by
which to judge of the affinity between different races,
and doubtless it is. That two nations should speak
languages closely resembling each other, is hardly pos-
sible, unless they originated from the same stock ; yet
it can by no means be inferred with as much certainty,
that, because there is a wide dissimilarity in their lan-
guages, the sources whence they sprung were as wide-
ly dissimilar. The same causes, which change the
habits of men under new circumstances will change
their language. New words, and new combinations
of words, will be required to express ideas not known
before. The intermingling of migratory tribes, speak-
ing different languages, must also introduce total con-
fusion, out of which would most likely grow up a
dialect, bearing little analogy to either of the primitive
tongues. Let such a process be carried on for many
generations, by a succession of intermixtures, and
what clue would there be to guide the inquirer through
this labyrinth of mutations back to the»first fountain?
When it is considered, moreover, that all these tongues
are unwritten and without any recognised principles,
the perplexity is increased a hundred fold. According to
recent discoveries, the Tschukchi, the natives inhabit-
ing the American side of Bering's Strait, the Eski-
maux, and the Greenlanders, speak languages which
have many marks of afunity. Their common origin is
a very natural inference. Ov^'ing to a more recent
separation, or fewer intermixtures, their language has
been preserved with something of its primitive form.
Had the same favorable circumstances attended the
migrations of other tribes, we might perhaps now trace

254 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

them to the same source, with as much appearance
of probability. We might possibly detect similar re-
semblances between the Iroquois and the Yakuti, the
Mohegans and the Kamtschadales, and even the Poly-
nesians and the Kalmuks. In short, the state of the
question is simply this. Where obvious analogies
exist, we may affirm a connexion between the tribes
in which they prevail, at some remote or proximate
period ; but where they do not exist, we can say
nothing on the subject. In the latter case we have
no warrant for deciding one way or the other.

Taken in this view, no w^ell founded objection can
be advanced against Ledyard's opinion, although it
would not be easy to establish it by a consecutive
series of proofs. It was the result of a long observa-
tion of general appearances, rather than of a minute
and methodical research. It was not with him an idle
speculation, indulged for the moment, and then dis-
missed. After his return from Siberia, he reiterated
the same sentiments. In connexion with a short ac-
count of his travels, he writes to a friend in these
emphatic words.

" You will please to accept these two observations,
as the result of extensive and assiduous inquiry.
They are with me well ascertained facts. ,The first
is, that the difference of color in the human species
(as the observation applies to all but the Negroes,
whom I have not visited) originates from natural
causes. The second is, that all the Asiatic Indians,
called Tartars, and all the Tartars, who formed the
later armies of Genghis Khan, together wath the
Chinese, are the same people, and that the American

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 255

Tartar is also of the same family ; the most ancient
and numerous people on earth, and the most uniformly
alike."

In this place may be inserted, also, his remarks to
Mr Jefferson, in a letter written nearly at the same
time with the above. After reiterating his opinion,
in regard to the causes of the difference of color in
the human race, he continues ;

"I am certain, that all the people you call red
people on the continent of America, and on the conti-
nents of Europe and Asia, as far south as the southern
parts of China, are all one people, by whatever names
distinguished, and that the best general name would
be Tartar. I suspect that all red people are of the
same family. T am satisfied, that America was peo-
pled from Asia, and had some, if not all, its animals
from thence.

" I am satisfied, that the great general analogy in
the customs of men can only be accounted for, by
supposing them all to compose one family ; and, by
extending the idea, and uniting customs, traditions,
and history, I am satisfied, that this common origin
was such, or nearly, as related by Moses, and com-
monly believed among the nations of the earth.
There is, also, a transposition of things on the globe,
that must have been produced by some cause equal to
the effect, which is vast and curious. Whether I re-
pose on arguments drawn from facts observed by my-
self, or send imagination forth to find a cause, they
both declare to me a general deluge."

It will be perceived, that he uses the word Tartar
in a broader sense, than is commonly given to it, em-

256 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

bracing not only all the northern Asiatic races and the
Chinese, but likewise the aborigines of North Ameri-
ca. Pallas says, that even the Monguls and Kalmuks
are not rightly called Tartars, and that these latter
people are different from the former in their origin,
customs, political establishments, and the lineaments
of their features. They inhabit the northern regions
of Thibet, and western Siberia, never mingling with
the Kalmuks. These facts in no degree affect Led-
yard's use of the word. He employs it as a general
term, and in a definite manner, without regard to its
original meaning.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. '251

CHAPTER XI.

Climate in Siberia. — Extreme cold.— Congelation of quicksilver. — Images in
Russian houses.— Attention paid to dogs.— Ice windows.— Jealousy of the
Russians. — Moral condition of the Russians in Siberia. — Ledyard's celebrated
eulogy on women. — Captain Billings meets him at Yakutsk, on his return
from the Frozen Ocean. — Bering's discovery of the strait called after his
name. — Russian voyages of discovery. — Bering's death. — Russian fur trade. —
Billings's expedition. — His incompetency to the undertaking. — His insti-uc-
tions nearly the same as those drawn up by Peter the Great for Bering. —
Some of their principal features enumerated.

A FEW Other selections on miscellaneous topics will
now be made from that part of the journal, which
was written at Yakutsk.

" At Kazan there is abundance of snow ; at Irkutsk,
which is in about the same latitude, very little. Here
at Yakutsk the atmosphere is constantly charged with
snow; it sometimes falls, but very sparingly, and that
in the daytime ; rarely, if ever, at night. The air is
much like that which we experienced with Captain
Cook in mare glaciali, between the latitudes of
seventy and seventytwo ; seldom a serene sky, or de-
tached clouds ; the upper region is a dark, still, ex-
panded vapor, with few openings in it. The lower
atmosphere contains clouds floating over head, resem-
bling fog-banks. In general the motion of everything
above and below is languid. The summers are said
to be dry ; the days very hot, nights cold, and the
weather exceedingly changeable, subject to high winds
generally from the north, and soiietimes heavy snows
in August. I have seen but one aurora borealis, and
that not an extraordinary one.
33

258 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

" The people in Yakutsk have no wells. They
have tried them to a very great depth, but they freeze
even in summer ; consequently they have all their
water from the river. But in winter they cannot
bring water in its fluid state ; it freezes on the way.
It is then brought in large cakes of ice to their
houses, and piled up in their yards. As water is
wanted,' they bring these pieces of ice into the warm
rooms where they thaw, and become fit for use. Milk
is brought to market in the same way. A Yakuti
came into our house today with a bag full of ice.
* What,' said I to Laxman, ' has the man brought ice
to sell in Siberia ? ' It was milk. Clean mercury
exposed to the air is now constantly frozen. By
repeated observations 1 have found in December, that
two ounces of quicksilver openly exposed have frozen
hard in fifteen minutes. It may be cut with a knife,
like lead. Strong cogniac brandy coagulated. A ther-
mometer, filled with rectified spirits of wine, indicated
thirtynine and a half degrees on Reaumur's scale.
Captain Billings had, on the borders of the Frozen
Ocean the winter before last, fortythree degrees and
,three fourths by the same thermometer. In these
severe frosts the air is condensed, like a thick fog.
The atmosphere itself is frozen ; respiration is fatigu-
ing ; all exercise must be as moderate as possible ;
one's confidence is in his fur dress. It is a happy
provision of nature, that in such intense colds there is
seldom any wind ; when there is, it is dangerous to
be abroad. In these seasons, there is no chase ; the
animals submit themselves to hunger and security, and

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 259

SO does man. All nature groans beneath the rigorous
winter.*

" The first settlers here [Russians] came round by
the North Sea, about two hundred and fifty years ago.
A gentleman showed me today a copy of a marriage
contract done at Moscow, two hundred and five years
ago. It is a folio page, and there are only sixteen
words intelligible to. an ordinary reader, which corre-
spond to the orthography of the present day. Many
instances of longevity occur in this place. There is
a man one hundred and ten years old, who is in per-
fect health, and labors daily. The images in the
Russian houses, which I should take for a kind of
household gods, are very expensive. The principal
ones have a great deal of silver lavished on them.
To furnish out a house properly with these Dii Mino-
res, would cost a large sura. When burnt out, as I
have witnessed several times, the people have appear-
ed more anxious for these, than for anything else.

* The following is the statement of Captain Cochrane, respecting
the degree of cold at the river Kolyma, which he visited in the winter
of 1820-91. " The weather proved exceedingly cold in January and
February, but never so severe as to prevent our walks, except during
those times when the wind was high ; it then became insupportable out
of doors, and we were obliged to remain at home. Forty degrees of
frost of Fahrenheit never appear to affect us in calm weather, so much
as ten or fifteen during the time of a breeze. Fortythree of Reaumur,
or seventyseven of Fahrenheit, have been repeatedly known. I will,
also, add my testimony from experiment to the extent o£ fortytwo. I
have also seen the minute book of a gentleman at Yakutsk, where
fortyseven of Reaumur were registered, equal to eightyfour of Fahren-
heit."

By various experiments it has been proved, that mercury congeals at
fhirtytivo degrees below zero of Reaumur's scale, and forty of Fahren-
heit's.

260 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

The images form almost the whole decoration of the
churches, and those melted in one of them just burnt
down, are estimated to have been worth at least thirty
thousand roubles. The warm bath is used by the
peasantry here early in liie, from which it is common
for them to plunge into the river, and if there happens
to be new fallen snow, they come naked from the
bath and wallow therein. Dances are accompanied,
or rather performed, by the same odd twisting and
writhing of the hi}3s, as at Otaheite.

" Dogs are here esteemed nearly in the same de-
gree, that horses are in England ; for besides answer-
ing the same purpose in travelling, they aid the people
in the chase, and, after toiling for them the whole
day, become their safeguard at night. Indeed they
command the greatest attention. There are dog far-
riers to attend them in sickness, who are no despicable
rivals in ait, at least in pretension, to the horse doc-
tors of civilized Europe. Dogs also command a high
price. What they call a leading dog of prime charac-
ter will sell for three or four hundred roubles.

" Every body in Yakutsk has two kinds of win-
dows, the one for summer, and the other for winter.
Those for the latter season are of many different
forms and materials; but all are so covered with ice
on the inside, that the}' are not transparent, and are
so far useless. You can see nothing without, not even
the body of the sun at noon. Ice is most commonly
used for windows in winter, and talc in summer.
These afford a gloomy kind of light within, that serves
for orduiary purposes.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 261

" The Russ dress in this region is Asiatic ; long,
loose, and of the mantle kind, covering almost every
part of the body. It is a dress not originally calcu-
lated for the latitude they inhabit. Within doors the
Russian is Asiatic ; without, European. The Em-
press gives three ranks to officers that come into Sibe-
ria, and serve six years ; two while out from Peters-
burg, and one on their return. It has two important
effects, one to civilize Siberia, and the other to prosti-
tute rank. I have before my eyes the most consum-
mate scoundrels in the universe, of a rank that in any
civilized country would be a signal of the best virtues
of the heart and the head, or at least of common
honesty and common decency. The succession of
these characters is every six years.

" So strong is the propensity of the Russians to
jealousy, that they are guilty of the lowest offences
on that account. The observation may appear trivial,
but an ordinary Russian will be displeased, if one
even endeavors to gain the good will of his dog. I
affronted the Commandant of this town very highly, by
permitting his dog to walk with me one afternoon.
He expostulated with me very seriously about it.
This is not the only instance. I live with a young
Russian officer, with whom 1 came from Irkutsk.
No circumstance has ever interrupted the harmony
between us, but his dogs. They have done it twice.
A pretty little puppy he has, came to me one day, and
jumped upon my knee. I patted his head, and gave
him some bread. The man flew at the dog in the
utmost rage, and gave him a blow, which broke his
leg. The lesson I gave him on the occasion has almost

262 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

cured him, for I bid him beware how he disturbed my
peace a third time by this rascally passion.

" 1 have observed from Petersburg to this place,
that the Russians in general have few moral virtues.
The bulk of the people are almost without any. The
laws of the country are mostly penal laws ; but all
laws of this kind are little else than negative instructers.
They inform the people what they shall not do, and
affix the penalty to the transgression ; but they do not
inform people what they ought to do, and affix the re-
ward to virtue. Untaught in the sublime of morality,
the Russian has not that glorious basis on which to
exalt his nature. This, in some countries, is made
the business of religion ; and, in others, of the civil
laws. In this unfortunate country, it is the business
of neither civil nor ecclesiastical concernment. A
citizen here fulfils his duty to the laws, if, like a base
Asiatic, he licks the feet of his superior in rank ; and
his duty to his God, if he fills his house with a set of
ill looking brass and silver saints, and worships them.
It is for these reasons, that the peasantry in particular
are the most unprincipled in Christendom. I hav-e
looked for certain virtues of the heart, that are called
natural. I find them not in the most obscure villages
of the empire. On the contrary, I find the rankest
vices to abound there, as much as in the capital
itself."

A few isolated facts will now be added, which he
collected chiefly from the information of others, but
which he deemed worthy of a place in his journal.

" The Tongusians are tattooed. The Samoiedes
have the double headed paddle. They fish with nets

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 263

under the ice. The Biiietti have the Mahometan
lock of hair. The Kuriles are tattooed. A journal
of a Russian officer says they are very hairy. They
traffic with the Japanese in feathers and fish. The
islands have little vegetation. The people are reserv-
ed in conversation ; they are comely ; have their
materials for boat and house building from the conti-
nent, or from the Japanese. They are very wild, and
receive strangers with the most threatening and formal
appearance, but afterwards they are kind and hospita-
ble. The coast of the Frozen Ocean is full of trees
and driftwood for five versts out. It is remarked by
the Russians, that since their knowledge of those
regions, the land has increased towards the sea, and
driven it northwards, a circumstance attributable per-
haps to the large rivers, that empty themselves there.
— Informed that the custom of staining the nails of
the fingers of a scarlet color, is common near the Cas-
pian and Black seas. I saw one instance of it in the
neighborhood of Kazan. It is likewise a custom
among the Cochin Chinese. I saw it at the island of
Perlo Condor. The custom of calling John the son
of John, Alexander the son of Alexander, prevails
among the Russians."

The preceding selections embrace nearly all that is
contained in the journal, under the dates of his resi-
dence at Yakutsk, except the celebrated eulogy on
women, which was likewise written at that place.
This beautiful and touching tribute to the superiority
of the female character, is the more to be valued, as
coming from one whose sphere of observation and
experience had been such, as to enable him to speak

264 LIFE OF JOHN LED YARD.

with confidence, and whose smcerity cannot be sus-
pected. It is the simple effusion of a grateful heart,
recorded in his private journal, not intended for the
public eye, and obviously written, like the rest of the
manuscript compositions left behind him, without any
other design, than to quicken his own recollections, or
perhaps amuse his intimate friends in a vacant hour.
This eulogy was first printed, shortly after the author's
death, in the Transactions of the African Association,
in which it was inserted by Mr Beaufoy, secretary to
that body, who then had the Siberian journal in his
possession. It has often been reprinted, and univer-
sally admired, not more for the sentiments it contains,
and the genuine feeling that pervades it, than for
its terse and appropriate language. The original has
been altered in some of the transcripts. It is here
introduced as found in the journal.

" I have observed among all nations, that the
women ornament themselves more than the men ;
that, wherever found, they are the same kind, civil,
obliging, humane, tender beings ; that they are ever
inclined to be gay and cheeiful, timorous and modest.
They do not hesitate, like man, to perform a hospita-
ble or generous action ; not haughty, nor arrogant,
nor supercilious, but full of courtesy and fond of
society ; industrious, economical, ingenuous ; more
liable in general to err than man, but in general, also,
more virtuous, and performing more good actions
than he. I never addressed myself in the language
of decency and friendship to a w oman, whether civi-
lized or savage, without receiving a decent and friend-
ly answer. With man it has often been otherwise.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 265

In wandering *over the barren plains of inhospitable
Denmark, through honest Sweden, frozen Lapland,
rude and churlish Fhiland, unprincipled Russia, and
the wide spread regions of the wandering Tartar, if
hungry, dry, cold, wet, or sick, woman has ever been
friendly to me, and uniformly so ; and to add to this
virtue, so worthy of the appellation of benevolence,
these actions have been performed in so free and so
kind a manner, that, if I was dry, I drank the sweet
draught, and, if hungry, ate the coarse morsel, with a
double relish."

By these specimens of his journal, we may judge
how the traveller employed himself at Yakutsk, dur-
ing the weary days of his compulsory residence there.
He had not been quite two months in this town, when
Captain Billings arrived from his expedition to the
river Kolyma, and the frozen ocean. An intimate ac-
quaintance had formerly subsisted between Ledyard
and Billings. The latter had been an assistant to the
Astronomer Bayly, during the whole of Cook's last
voyage. He was now employed under the orders of
the Empress of Russia, on a mission for exploring the
northeastern regions of her territories, and for prose-
cuting discoveries in geography and natural science,
Billings was much surprised at meeting his old ac-
quaintance in the heart of Siberia, not having heard
from him since their separation at the close of the
vovage. Meantime he had entered the Russian ser-
vice, and by a concurrence of favorable circumstances,
not easy to be accounted for, had obtained the com-
mand of a very important expedition. Ledyard was
no doubt glad to meet a person, in this rude quarter of
34

266 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

the world, who could speak his own language, and
who had some recollections in common with himself;
but, in other respects, the companionship was not such,
as to promote his advantage, or his enjoyment. Bil-
lings gave no proof, that he was competent to the
high trust reposed in him by the Russian government,
or that he possessed qualities suited to win the esteem
of his associates.

A few remarks, relating to the purposes of the ex-
pedition just alluded to, may very well be introduced
in this place, as in some of its parts it was more or
less in unison with the designs of the American trav-
eller. Russian enterprise had by no means been back-
ward in pushing discoveries to the east and north,
even at a comparatively early period. About the
middle of the seventeenth century, Deschneff and his
companions passed down the Kolyma, sailed along the
coast of the Tchuktchi country in the Icy Sea, and
thence discovered a route by land from this coast to
Anadir. Other adventures were undertaken, and dis-
coveries made at successive periods, by Staduchin,
Markoff, Willegin, and Amossoff. But the journeys
and voyages of these persons had extended only to the
Tchuktchi territory, Anadir, Kamtschatka, the Kurile
Islands, and to the neighboring seas. Neither the
Strait, which separates Asia from America, nor any
part of the American coast on the northwest, nor the
Aleutian Islands, had been visited before the year 1728,
when Captain Bering made his voyage of discovery.
This voyage was planned by Peter the Great, who
Avrote out with his own hand the instructions for the
commander. He died before they were put in exe-

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 267

cution, but the Empress, who succeeded him, car-
ried the original design into effect. Captain Bering
was despatched to Kamtschatka, with orders to con-
struct two vessels there, and to sail in them for the
purpose of examining the coast towards the east and
north, and of ascertaining, if possible, whether Asia
and America were separated by the ocean. In the
year abovementioned he made this voyage, and dis-
covered the strait, to which his name has been given.
He kept so close to the x'Vsiatic shore, that he did not
see the American coast, but he sailed northward
till, on doubling a cape, he saw an open sea before
him, which presented a boundless horizon to the north
and west, and convinced him that the two continents
nowhere came in contact with each other. The sea-
son was far advanced, and he returned to the river of
Kamtschatka, where he wintered.

The success of this voyage was such, as to encour-
age the government to undertake others. A plan was
formed for navigating the whole northern coast of
Russia, from Archangel to Kamtschatka. Several
expeditions were fitted out for this purpose from Arch-
angel, the mouths of the Ob, Yenissey, Lena, and
Kolyma, and after incredible sufferings by (he officers
and men engaged in them, and the loss of a great
many lives in those terrific regions of cold and priva-
tion, all further attempts were abandoned. Some
new portions of the coast were examined, but much
remained unexplored, and has continued so to this
day. No passage has been effected entirely round
the north coast of Asia, any more than round that of
America*

268 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

Twelve jears after his first discovery, Bering made
another voyage, fell in with the Aleutian Islands, ex-
plored the American coast for a considerable distance,
and discovered and named Mount Saint Elias. In
returning to Kamtschatka at the beginning of winter,
he was driven in distress upon an island near the
Asiatic coast, where he and several of his men died.
The island has since borne his name. The remnant
of his crew arrived in the spring at Kamtschatka.

From this period the Russians kept up an active
fur trade, from Okotsk and Kamtschatka, with the
natives of the Aleutian Islands, but voyages of dis-
covery ceased for a long time. A tribute in furs was
collected for the Russian government from tlie natives,
by the traders who went among them, and authentic
accounts are related of barbarities practised by the
latter against the former, in their exactions of labor in
procuring furs, equalling in cruelty the servitude of
the mitas, inflicted by the Spaniards in South America
on the Indians, whom they compelled to work in the
mines. The party of traders, whom Ledyard visited
at Onalaska, however, cannot be brought under this
imputation in its full extent, for he describes them as
kind to the natives, whom he saw^ with them. It is
to be considered, nevertheless, that the cruelties were
principally suifered by those, who were sent abroad to
hunt and trap, and made to endure cold, and hunger,
and all the severities of the climate. These sufferers
would not come under the traveller's observation, in
the short time that he remained with the traders at
Onalaska.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 269

Such was the state of the Russian fur trade on the
American coast, from the date of Bering's last discov-
eries, till that of Cook's voyage to the northern polar
seas, a period of about forty years. During that
space the government appears to have paid no atten-
tion to the subject, except to take care that its
agents at Okotsk and Kamtschatka gathered tribute
fiom the islands. But when Cook's last voyage
began to make a noise in Europe, and his discoveries
on the Northwest Coast of America and in the
adjoining seas to be known, the sagacious Catherine
was quick to perceive, that her interests were in-
volved in the affair, and that it was time for her to
look to these remote and hitherto neglected parts of
her dominions. In short, an expedition was planned
on a large and liberal scale, and it was resolved,
that, in preparing for it, nothing shojdd be spared,
which w'as necessary to combine in it all possible
facilities for prosecuting discoveries, both by land and
by sea.

Professor Pallas, who was a favorite with the Em-
press, and who had travelled in Siberia under her
patronage, was particularly instrumental in suggesting
and maturing this plan. The choice of a commander
was an important consideration, and this was at last
effected wholly through the interest of the Professor.
Mr Billings, who had recently obtained a lieutenancy
in the Russian service, had found means to insinuate
himself into the favor of Pallas, and to impress him
with a high opinion of his understanding and knowl-
edge ; in which he discovered, however, after it was
too late, that he was unfortunately mistaken. The

270 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

circumstance of this lieutenant having been with
Cook, in the regions that were to be explored, filling
a station which gave him some pretensions to a
science, was thought to be a strong recommendation ;
and so it would have been, if in more important
respects he had possessed the qualities of a com-
mander, and a man of enterprise. In these he was
singularly deficient ; as was fully demonstrated in the
sequel of the expedition. He was appointed to the
command, and left Petersburg for Siberia in October,
1785, about eighteen months before Ledyard arrived
in the Russian capital.

The instructions to Billings were so well drawn up,
that they deserve a passing notice. They were pre-
pared on the basis of those, which had been written
by Peter the Great for Captain Bering. Every pro-
vision was made for the advancement of science and
geographical knowledge, as well as for extending the
influence of the Russian government in remote and
unknown parts. The great specific objects were, to
determine the latitude and longitude of the mouth of
the river Kolyma, and the line of coast from that
point to the East Cape in Bering's Strait ; the con-
struction of an exact chart of the Eastern Ocean, and
the islands between Asia and America ; and the at-
tainment of all such knowledge of those regions as
might serve to illustrate the reign of her Imperial
Majesty, by improving the condition and promoting
the happiness of the natives inhabiting those distant
lands, and by collecting and diffusing new truths of
science, for the general benefit of mankind.

The instructions for scientific researches were mi-
nute, perspicuous, and explicit. Professor Pallas was

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 271

much consulted in preparing them. And, indeed, the
separate articles for the naturalist, drawn up with
admirable precision and method, were entirely from
his pen, and issued with his signature. Observations
in geography and meteorology, exact delineations of
charts, and notes of electrical phenopiena, variations
of the needle, and of barometrical and thermometrical
changes, were expressly required. The various de-
partments of the animal, vegetable, and mineral king-
doms were also particularized, and the utmost care
enjoined in collecting specimens, and forwarding them
to Petersburg. Drawings were to be made of
curious and extraordinary objects. The manners, dis-
position, and occupations of the natives were to be
described, and also their modes of living, government,
religions, their dresses, arms, and manufactures.
Moreover, vocabularies of their languages were order-
ed to be made, according to a model previously fur-
nished. The commander, the naturalist, and all the
principal officers, were directed to keep journals for
the future inspection of the Admiralty.

Another feature in these instructions deserves to be
mentioned. In case any savage tribes should be dis-
covered, who had not been acquainted w ith civilized
people, it w^as positivi^ly ordered, that they should
be treated with kindness, and that the best means
should be used to conciliate their good opinion. They
were never to be approached in a hostile way,
unless such a step should appear absolutely necessary
for self defence. On this point the instructions are
as full and definite as on others, and breathe a spirit
of humanity, which, if it had been uniformly felt and

272 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

acted upon by discoverers, would have prevented in-
numerable scenes of bloodshed and misery, which
have marked the early intercourse between civilized
and savage men.

Captain Billings was allowed to select his own offi-
cers and privates, and, as an encouragement to all the
persons engaged, much higher pay was granted, than
was usual in the regular service, with the promise of
additional rewards. The officers were to be promoted
as the enterprise advanced, and particularly at its con-
clusion. The Governor General of Irkutsk was or-
dered to render all needful assistance, and unite his
best efforts with those of the commander to execute
the designs of the Empress. No expedition was ever
more liberally provided, and none ever commenced
under better auspices.

When Ledyard met Billings at Yakutsk, he had
been more than two years absent from Petersburg,
and had spent the preceding season at the mouth of
the river Kolyma, attempting to pass along the coast
in boats constructed for the purpose. The ice threat-
ened him, and he accomplished nothino;, though his
lieutenant was extremely desirous to push forward, at
a time when, to all but the commander, there seemed
a prospect of success. He had now returned, with
the intention of going to Irkutsk, and there superin-
tending the transportation of various articles to
Okotsk, where they were wanted for preparing the
vessels, in which he expected to make a voyage to
the American coast in the following summer. This
was the opportunity, which Ledyard hoped to em-
brace for securing his passage from one continent to
the other.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 273

CHAPTER XII.

Ledyard departs from Yakutsk, and returns to Irkutsk up the Lena on the ice . — Is
seized by order of the Empress, and hurried off in the charge of two guards. —
Returns through Siberia to Kazan. — His remarks on the peculiarity of his
fate. — Further observations on the Tartars. — No good account of them has
ever been written. — Passes Moscow and arrives in Poland. — Left by his
guards, with an injunction never to appear again in Russia. — Health much
impaired by his sufferings. — Proceeds to Konigsberg, and thence to London. —
Inquiry into the motives of the Empress for her cruel treatment of him. — Her
pretences of humanity not to be credited. — Her declaration to Count Segur
on the subject. — Dr Clarke's explanation incorrect. — The tme cause was the
jealousy of the Russian American Fur Company, by whose influence his recall
was procured from the Empress. — Lafayette's remark on her conduct in this
particular.

That we may not anticipate events, we will again
take up our traveller at Yakutsk, where we left him
with Captain Billings, then just returned from the
Kolyma, near the end of November. Here they lived
together about five weeks. Meantime Billings was
making preparation for his journey to Irkutsk, and in-
vited Ledyard to accompany him thither. This invi-
tation he readily accepted, since it was impossible for
him to proceed to Okotsk before spring ; nor indeed
would any object be gained by such a journey, till
Captain Billings himself should return to that place,
and his vessels be got in readiness, for no chance of a
passage was likely to offer at an earlier date. Ac-
cordingly he joined Captain Billings's party, which
left Yakutsk on the twentyninth of December, and
travelled in sledges up the river Lena on the ice.
With such speed did they move forward by this mode
of conveyance, that they reached Irkutsk in seventeen
35

274 LIFE OF JOHxN LEDYARD.

clays, having passed over a distance of fifteen hundred
miles. Ledjard's voyage down the river in a canoe
had taken up tvventytwo days.

Nothing is found recorded in his journal, during this
second visit to Irkutsk. In Sauer's account of Bil-
lings's expedition, the fate which overtook him there is
made known to us, and the manner in which he sub-
mitted to it.

" In the evening of the twentyfourth of February,"
says Saner, " while I was playing at cards with the
brigadier and som« company of his, a secretary be-
longing to one of the courts of justice came in, and
told us with great concern, that the Governor General
had received positive orders from the Empress, imme-
diately to send one of the expedition, an Englishman,
under guard to the private Inquisition at Moscow^ but
that he did not know the name of the person, and
that Captain Billings was with a private party at the
Governor General's. Now, as Ledyard and I were
the only Englishmen here, I could not help smil-
ing at the news, when two hussars came into the
room, and told me, that the Commandant wished to
speak to me immediately. The consternation into
which the visitors were thrown is not to be described.
I assured them, that it must be a mistake, and went
with the guards to the Commandant.

" There I found Mr Ledyard under arrest. He
told me, that he had sent to Captain Billings, but he
would not come to him. He then began to explain
his situation, and said he was taken up as a French
spy, whereas Captain Billings could prove the contrary,
but he supposed that he knew nothing of the matter,

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 275

and requested that I would inform him. I did so,
but the Captain assured me, that it was an absolute
order from the Empress, and that he could not help
him. He, however, sent him a few roubles, and gave
him a pelisse ; and I procured him his linen quite wet
from the wash-tub. Ledjard took a friendly leave of
me, desired his remembrance to his friends, and with as-
tonishing composure leaped into the kibitka, and drove
off, with two guards, one on each side. I wished to
travel with him a little way, but was not permitted.
I therefore returned to my company, and explained
the matter to them ; but though this eased their minds
with regard to my fate, it did not restore I heir har-
mony." *

One w^ord more only needs be added respecting
Billings. He went to Okotsk in the summer, made
a voyage to the Aleutian Islands, and thence to Be-
ring's Strait. From the bay of St Lawrence he
passed across the Tchuktchi country to the river Koly-
ma by land, whence he proceeded to Yakutsk, and at
length returned to Petersburg, after an absence of
seven or eight years. No evidence exists, that his
labors were of any service to Russia or to the world,
either in the field of discovery, or the departments of
science. Sauer's book has made his incompetency
notorious. The misfortune was, that this should have
been found out so late. Captain Burney, who was
well acquainted with Billings while on Cook's voyage,
observes, in alluding to Ledyard's arrest, " If the Em-

* See Sauer's Account of a Geographical and Astronomical Expedi-
tion to the Northern Parts of Russia, &c. p. 100.

276 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

press had understood the characters of the two men,
the commander of the expedition would probably have
been ordered to Moscow, and Ledyard, instead of
being denied entertainment in her service, have been
appointed to supply his place." *

Being now a prisoner, Ledyard was under the entire
control of his two guards, who conducted him, with
all the speed with which horses and sledges could
convey them, towards Moscow, exposed to the ex-
treme rigors of a Siberian winter. In such a situa-
tion, it cannot be presumed, that he would have either
the heart or leisure to write in his journal. A few
particulars only are recorded, and to these a place will
now be given. Dates are rarely noted. The follow-
ing was apparently written soon after he left Irkutsk.

" My ardent hopes are once more blasted, — the
almost half accomplished wish. What secret machi-
nations have been at work ? What motive ? But so
it suits her royal Majesty of all the Russias, and she
has riothing but her pleasure to consult ; she has no
nation's resentment to apprehend, for I am the minis-
ter of no state, no monarch. I travel under the com-
mon flag of humanity, commissioned by myself to
serve the world at large ; and so the poor, the unpro-
tected wanderer must go where sovereign will or-
dains; if to death, why then my journeying will be
over sooner, and rather differently from what I con-
terrplated ; if otherwise, why then the royal dame
has taken me much out of my way. But I may pur-

* Burney's Chronological History of the Northeastern Voyages of
Discovery, p. 279.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 277

sue another route. The rest of the world lies uuin-
terdicted. Though born hi the freest of the civilized
countries, yet, io the present state of privation, I have
a more exquisite sense of the amiable, the immortal
nature of liberty, than I ever had before. It would
be excellently qualifying, if every man, who is called
to preside over the liberties of a people, should once —
it would be enough — actually be deprived of his lib-
erty unjustly. He would be avaricious of it, more
than of any other earthly possession. I could love a
country and its inhabitants, if it were a country of
freedom. There are two kinds of people I could
anathematize, with a better weapon than St Peter's ;
those who dare deprive others of their liberty, and
those who suffer others to do it."

Again he writes, some days after the above, having
escaped from Siberia ;

" I am now at Kazan ; it is nine months since I
left this place on my tour eastward, and I am nine
times more fully satisfied, than I was before, of some
circumstances mentioned in my diary in June last.
As I was fond of the subjects I have been in pursuit
of, I was apprehensive that I might have been rash
and premature in some of my opinions, but I certainly
have not been. I am now fully convinced, that the
difference of color in man is solely the effect of natural
causes, and that a mixture by intermarriage and habits
would in time make the species in this respect uni-
form. I have never extended my opinion, and do not
now, to the Negroes ; but should I live to visit them,
I shall expect to find the same data, leading to the
same conclusion, namely, that they are like the other

278 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

two classes of" man, which I call by the general terms
of white people and Indians. There are many rea-
sons, that rise naturally from the observations on my
present voyage, which induce me to think so, yet I
still wish to have better. I expect, however, the re-
sult will be, that I shall find the same causes existing
in Africa to render the Negro blacker than the Indian,
as in Asia to render the Indian darker than the Euro-
pean.

" With respect to the national, or genealogical con-
nexion, which the remarkable affinity of person and
manners bespeaks between the Indians on this, and
on the American continent, I declare my opinion to
be, without the least scruple, and with the most abso-
lute conviction, that the Indians on the one and on the
other are the same people. As to the origin and his-
tory of the great Tartar Nation^ little has been essay-
ed ; very little is known even of the extent of their
country. Albugassi, himself a noble Tartar, has said
much the most and best of their origin, and something
of their extent ; but very unsatisfactorily as to this
latter, for in truth he knew but little about it. Like a
soldier, he has written a kind of muster roll of his
countrymen. I do not remember anything like philo-
sophical research in his history, though I read him
with avidity. Among the voyagers in this country,
even the most modern, I have, instead of more, still
less information. A few vocabularies to lead astray
those, who would wish to find real knowledge, and an
account of a few customs, without any remarks on
them, constitute nearly the amount of the whole.
There is, indeed, very little of value said about this

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 279

great people by any writers. The late contest about
the contiguity, or junction, of Asia and America, has
accidentally struck out a few observations, and one
now and then finds something philosophically said of
them, but very unphilosophically placed among quad-
rupeds, fish, fowls, plants, minerals, and fossils.
When the history of Asia, and I add of America, be-
cause there is an intimate connexion between them,
shall be as well known as that of Europe, it will be
found, that those, who have written the history of
man, have begun at the wrong end."

What passed at the private Inquisition of Moscow,
when Ledyard and his guards arrived in that city,
there is no record to explain. Since nothing is said
of the matter, it is probable, that, if he was taken at
all before that body, no specific charges were substan-
tiated, or even preferred, as in truth none could exist.
The idea of a French spy in Siberia was an absurdity
too gross, to be formally urged as a reason for his ar-
rest, although this had been given out at Irkutsk.
What was there in Siberia, either for a Frenchman, or
a native of any other country to spy ? Was the Em-
press afraid, that the French were plotting a crusade
into those frozen and sterile regions, to rescue her
miserable exiles, who were suffering there the penal-
ties of their crimes, or the effects of imperial indig-
nation for their projects of ambition and aggran-
dizement in Petersburg ? It was not likely that
France, or any other nation, would covet the control
of such subjects, or of such a land. This pretence of
a French spy originated at Irkutsk, where it was con-
venient that some false report should be circulated

280 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

respecting the cause of Wis arrest, as will shortl}^ be
made manifest. Ledyard again writes,

" I am now two hundred and twenty versts from
Moscow, on the road to Poland. Thank Heaven,
petticoats appear, and the glimmerings of other fea-
tures. Women are the sure harbingers of an altera-
tion in manners, in approaching a country where their
influence is felt. But wampum, or, if you will, beads,
tassels, rings, fringes, and eastern gewgaws, prevail
as much here as in Siberia.

" I am at the city of Neeshna, in a vile, dark, dirty,
gloomy, damp room ; it is called quarters, but it is a
miserable prison. The soldiers, who guard me, are
doubly watchful over me when in a town, though at
no time properly so, through their consummate indo-
lence and ignorance. Every day I have it in my
power to escape them, but, though treated like- a
felon, I will not appear like one by flight. I was very
ill yesterday ; I am emaciated ; it is more than twenty
days since I have eat anything, that may be called
food, and during that time have been dragged along
from day to day in some wretched open kibitka. Thus
am I treated in all respects (except that I am obliged
to support myself with my own money) like a con-
vict, and presented by my snuff'box of a sergeant as a
raree-show, at every town through which we pass.
Were I charged, or chargeable, with any injury done
or thought of, either to this, or any other country, it
might not make me contented, indeed, yet, I suppose,
it would make me resigned. But to be arrested in
my travels at the last stage but one, in those domi-
nions where the severe laws of the climate unhappily

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 281

detained me, which, however, I should have braved,
had it not been for the restraining courtesy of the
Commandant at Yakutsk ; to be seized, imprisoned,
and transported in this dark and silent manner, with-
out cause, or accusation, except what appears in the
mysterious wisdom depicted in the face of my ser-
geant, and of course without even a guess as to
my destination ; treated, in short, like a subject of —
this country ; — under such circumstances, resignation
would be a crime against my dear native land."

Here the Siberian journal abruptly comes to a close,
and little is known of what befell him on his way to
England, from the frontiers of Poland. In a letter to
a friend, written after his arrival in London, he
touches again upon the subject, and adds a few par-
ticulars, which may with propriety be inserted in the
present connexion.

" I had penetrated," he says, " through Europe and
Asia, almost to the Pacific Ocean, but, in the midst of
my career, was arrested a prisoner to the Empress of
Russia, by an express sent after me for that purpose.
I passed under a guard part of last winter and spring ;
was banished the empire, and conveyed to the fron-
tiers of Poland, six thousand versts from the place
where I was arrested, and this journey was performed
in six weeks. Cruelties and hardships are tales I
leave untold. I was disappointed in the pursuit of an
object, on which my future fortune entirely depended.
I know not how I passed through the kingdoms of
Poland and Prussia, or from thence to London, where
I arrived in the beginning of May, disappointed, rag-
ged, penniless ; and yet so accustomed am I to such
36

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

things, that 1 declare my heart was whole. My health
for the first time had suffered from my confinement,
and the amazing rapidity with which I had been car-
ried through the illimitable wilds of Tartary and Rus-
sia. But my liberty regained, and a few days' rest
among the beautiful daughters of Israel in Poland,
reestablished it, and I am now in as full bloom and
vigor, as thirtyseven years will afford any man.
Jarvis says I look much older, than when he saw me
three summers ago at Paris, which I can readily be-
lieve. An American face does not wear well, like an
American heart."

When the soldiers, who were his guards, had arriv-
ed with him in Poland, they gave him to understand
that he might go where he pleased, but if he returned
again to the dominions of the Empress, he would cer-
tainly be hanged. Having no longer any motive for
making such an experiment, he took the shortest
route to Konigsberg. Here he was in a destitute
situation, without friends or means, his hopes blasted,
and his health enfeebled. In this state of despondency
and suffering, he bethought himself again of the
benevolence of Sir Joseph Banks, which had on more
occasions than one administered relief to him, and
served as a balm to his wounded spirit. He was
lucky enough to dispose of a draft for five guineas on
his old benefactor, and by this expedient was enabled
to pursue his journey to London, where he arrived
after an absence of one year and five months, and
where he was received with much cordiality by Sir
Joseph Banks and his other friends.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 283

It remains to inquire a little further into the rea-
sons, which induced the Empress to recall him by a
mandate so positive, after she had given him a royal
passport for proceeding unmolested to Kamtschat-
ka. Various conjectures, as to her motives, have
existed, but the tale of the French spy has been the
one most generally received, probably because it was
credited by Sauer, who was on the spot at the
time he was seized. On that topic enough has been
said.

The avowed pretence of the Empress has been as-
certained, from the authority of Count Segur, who
was then, as heretofore stated, ambassador from
France to the court of Petersburg, and was instru-
mental in procuring Ledyard's passport. In August,
1823, he wrote the following note to Lafayette, in
reply to an inquiry on the subject.

" I have no longer any letters in my possession,"
says Count Segur, " relative to the celebrated travel-
ler, Mr Ledyard. I remember only, that in compliance
with your request, I furnished him with the best re-
commendations at the court of Russia. He was at
first very well received, but the Empress, who spoke to
me on the subject herself, observed that she would not
render herself guilty of the death of this courageous
American, by furthering a journey so fraught with
danger, as that he proposed to undertake alone, across
the unknown and savage regions of Northwestern
America. She consequently issued her prohibition.
Possibly this pretext of humanity, advanced by Cath-
erine, only disguised her unwillingness to have the
new possessions of Russia, on the western coast of

284 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

America, seen by an enlightened citizen of the United
States. The above, however, were the reasons she
advanced to me."

Few will doubt, probably, that the closing conjec-
ture of Count Segur is much more plausible, than the
alleged humanity of the Empress. It is clothing this
virtue in the royal breast with an air a little too roman-
tic, to suppose that she was prompted by such a mo-
tive to send an express four thousand miles, with an
order to arrest and preserve from his own temerity
and self-devotedness an individual, in whose personal
safety she could not possibly feel any other interest,
than what the sovereign of all the Russias would natur-
ally extend to the whole human family. And, more-
over, this plea of humanity sounds strangely enough,
when contrasted with the barbarous manner, in which
Ledyard was transported across the frightful deserts
of her Imperial Majesty's domains. Such evidences
of tenderheartedness he would very gladly have dis-
pensed with, and taken in exchange for them any
treatment he might receive from the savages of North-
western America. This pretence of humanity, there-
fore, has no better foundation than the story of the
French spy.

Another explanation is afforded in Dr Clarke's
Travels in Russia, who had the account from Profes-
sor Pallas himself. After relating an anecdote, re-
specting the manner in which Billings obtained his
appointment, Dr Clarke adds ;

" That the expedition might have been confided to
better hands, the public have been since informed hy
the secretary Sauer. This, Professor Pallas lamented

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD, 285

to have discovered, when it was too late. But the
loss sustained by any incapacity in the persons em-
ployed to conduct that expedition, is not equal to that
which the public suffered by the sudden recall of the
unfortunate Ledyard. This, it is said, would never
have happened, but through the jealousy of his own
countrymen, whom he chanced to encounter as he
was upon the point of quitting the eastern continent
for America, and who caused the information to be
sent to Petersburg, which occasioned the order for his
arrest." *

This account of the affair labors under one serious
difficulty, which is, that Ledyard did not meet a single
countryman of his own in Siberia. It could only be by
a vague rumor, originally intended to deceive, that
Professor Pallas was led into such a mistake. As
Billings and Sauer were Englishmen, and spoke the
same language as Ledyard, these persons may have
been alluded to ; yet no proof exists of their hostility to
him, or that they could have any reasons for thwart-
ing his designs.

Since all these explanations of the matter are falla-
cious, we must look for other causes, and these, in
my opinion, have been partly anticipated in the
remarks already made on the conduct of the Com-
mandant at Yakutsk. From all the circumstances,
which have come to my knowledge in the course of
this investigation, I am convinced, that a plan was
concerted at Irkutsk to send him back, very soon after
his arrival in that place. Irkutsk was the residence

* Clarke's Travels in Russia, Cliap. II.

286 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

of the Governor General of all the eastern parts of
Siberia, and of the principal persons engaged in the
fur trade at the Aleutian Islands. Two je^rs before
this period, the Russian American Company had been
formed, for the express purpose of establishing a
regular commercial intercourse with the natives of the
islands, and of the American coast. Operations were
already commenced by occupying new posts, erecting
factories, building fortifications to protect them, and
making other needful provisions to secure a complete
monopoly of the trade.

Now the headquarters of this company w^ere at
Irkutsk, and it could not have escaped the sagacity of
its conductors, that a foreigner, visiting their stations
at the islands, would make discoveries, w^hich might
be published to their disadvantage, both in regard to
the resources of traffic, and to the cruel m^anner in
which the traders habitually treated the natives, in
extorting from them the fruits of their severe and in-
cessant labors. To obviate such a consequence, it
was necessary to cut short the traveller's career, be-
fore he had penetrated to the eastern shores of Asia.
In effecting this point, some management was neces-
sary, as he had a passport from the Empress, with a
positive order to the Governor General to aid him on
his way. This order could not be countermanded,
nor the passport of the Empress treated with disre-
spect, till intelligence could be sent to Petersburg,
and influence there used with the Empress to procure
the annulment of her grant of protection, and Led-
yard's immediate recall. Time w^as requisite to' bring
this scheme to an issue, and the first thing to be done,

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 287

in the train of manoeuvres, was to throw obstacles in
his path, and retard his progress. This was begun in
good earnest at Irkutsk, where he was detained sev-
eral days longer than he desired, waiting, as he was
told, for the post.

The manner in which he was received by the Com-
mandant of Yakutsk has already been stated. The
extraordinary concern, which the Commandant pro-
fessed to feel for his welfare, the arguments he used
to dissuade him from going to Okotsk at that inclem-
ent season, and his returning Jacobi's letter open, are
all reasons for strong suspicions. And these reasons
are confirmed, when it is known, that the journey to
Okotsk was frequently undertaken in the winter.
More than a month after Ledyard arrived in Yakutsk,
Captain Billings returned from the Kolyma, which
was at least quite as difficult a journey ; and the next
year, Billings passed from Okotsk to Yakutsk in
October and November, precisely the same months in
which Ledyard wished to perform the tour. These
facts are enough to prove, that the Commandant's
pretended concern for his health and comfort was
only a cloak to cover other designs, and to render it
more than probable, that he had secret instructions to
cause his delay. This point was gained, and the plot
farther matured by inducing him to go back to Irkutsk
with Billings.

Six months elapsed between the date of his first
leaving Irkutsk, on his voyage down the Lena, and
that of his arrest. This afforded ample time to send
to Petersburg, and receive returns, even through the
common channel of the post, or mail, which then

288 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

passed with tolerable regularity and expedition from
the Russian capital to Irkutsk. Thus were all our
traveller's hopes blasted, and all his noble designs for
making new discoveries and benefiting mankind frus-
trated, by the jealousy and pitiful intrigues of a few
fur dealers at Irkutsk. The Empress was duped by
their representations, and she deserted on this occa-
sion the judicious policy, by which she was usually
guided, in whatever pertained to the advancement of
science, or the encouragement of enterprise. Well
might Lafayette say, as he did, that " her conduct in
this instance was very illiberal and narrow minded,
and that her measures were particularly ungenerous."
The conclusion to which I have thus been led, in ex-
plaining an apparent enigma in Ledyard's Siberian
adventures, is mainly founded, it is true, on circum-
stantial evidence ; but this evidence is so strong, that I
know not how it can be resisted.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 289

CHAPTER XIII.

Interview with Sir Joseph Banks in London. — Engages to travel in Africa under
the auspices of the African Association. — Remarkable instance of decision of
character. — Letter to Dr Ledyard, containing miscellaneous particulars
respecting his travels and circumstances. — Description of his Siberian
dresses. — Origin and purposes of the African Association. — Ancient and
present state of Africa. — Benefits of discoveries in that continent. — Letter
flom Ledyard to his mother. — His remarks to Mr Beaufoy on his departure
for Egypt. — Visits Mr Jefferson and Lafayette in Paris. — Sails from Mar-
seiles to Alexandria in Egj'pt. — Description of Alexandria, in a letter to Mr
Jefferson. — Arrives in Cairo. — Description of the city, and of his passage up
the Nile.

No sooner was he arrived in London, than he called
on his worthy patron and friend, Sir Joseph Banks, to
express his gratitude for the many substantial favors
received from him. Sir Joseph, after questioning
him with a lively interest concerning his travels, and
expressing sympathy for his past misfortunes, inquired
what were his future intentions. Ledyard frankly
confessed, that he had nothing in prospect ; that, after
having struggled against a tide of difficulties to ac-
complish an object, which he had much at heart,
but in pursuing which he had been baffled in every
attempt, he felt himself at this moment in a state of
perfect uncertainty, as to the step next to be taken ;
time and circumstances would decide his fortune.
What followed will be best related in the language of
Mr Beaufoy, then secretary of the African Asso-
ciation.

" Sir Joseph Banks, who knew his temper, told
him, that he believed he could recommend him to an
37

290 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

adventure almost as perilous as the one from which
he had returned ; and then communicated to him the
wishes of the Association for discovering the inland
countries of Africa. Ledjard replied, that he had
always determined to traverse the Continent of Africa,
as soon as he had explored the interior of North
America ; and as Sir Joseph had offered him a letter
of introduction, he came directly to the writer of
these Memoirs. Before I had learnt from the note
the name and business of my visitor, I was struck
with the manliness of his person, the breadth of his
chest, the openness of his countenance, and the in-
quietude of his eye. I spread the map of Africa
before him, and tracing a line from Cairo to Sennar,
and from thence westward in the latitude and suppos-
ed direction of the Niger, I told him, that was the
route, by which T was anxious that Africa might, if
possible, be explored. He said, he should think him-
self singularly fortunate to be trusted with the ad-
venture. I asked him when he would set out. ' To-
morrow morning,' was his answer. I told him I was
afraid that we should not be able, in so short a time,
to prepare his instructions, and to procure for him the
letters that were requisite ; but that if the Commit-
tee should approve of his proposal, all expedition
should be used." *

This interview affords one of the most extraordinary
instances of decision of character, which is to be
found on record. When we consider his recent bitter

* Proceedings of the African Association, Vol. I. p. 18.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 291

experience of the past, his labors and sufferings, which
had been so intense and so long continued, that a
painful reality had more than checked the excesses of
romantic enthusiasm, which might be kindled in a less
disciplined imagination ; and when we witness the
promptitude, with which he is ready to encounter
new perils in the heart of Africa, where hardships of
the severest kind must inevitably be endured, and
where death would stare him in the face at every
stage; we cannot but admire the superiority of mind
over the accidents of human life, the rapidity of com-
bination, quickness of decision, and fearlessness of
consequences, which Ledyard's reply indicates. It
w^as the spontaneous triumph of an elevated spirit over
the whole catalogue of selfish considerations, wavering
motives, and half subdued doubts, which would have
contended for days in the breast of most men, before
they would have adopted a firm resolution to jeopard
their lives, in an undertaking so manifestly beset
with dangers, and which in its best aspect threatened
to be a scene of toils, privations, and endurance. It
is needless to say, that the committee of the Associa-
tion immediately closed an agreement with a man,
who presented himself with such a temper, and with
numerous other qualities, which fitted him in a pecu-
liar manner for their service. Preparations for his
departure were commenced without delay.

While these movements were going on, he wrote a
long letter to Dr Ledyard. It was composed at dif-
ferent times, and is without date. A few extracts
from it will give an insight into his pursuits, and ex-
hibit some traits of his character in a favorable light.

292 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

" I was last evening in company with Mr Jarvis of
New York, whom I accidentally met in the city, and
invited to my lodgings. When I was in Paris in dis-
tress, he behaved very generously to me, and, as I do
not want money at present, I had a double satisfaction
in our meeting, being equally happy to see him, and
to pay him one hundred livres, which I never expected
to be able to do, and I suppose he did not think I
should. If he goes to New York as soon as he men-
tioned, I shall trouble him with this letter to you, and
with some others to your address for my other friends.
I wrote you last from this place, nearly two years
ago, but I suppose you heard from me at Petersburg,
by Mr Franklin of New York. I promised to write
you from the remote parts of Siberia. I promise
everything to those I love ; and so does fortune to me
sometimes, but we reciprocally prevent each other
from fulfilling our engagements. She left me so poor
in Siberia, that I could not write you, because I could
not frank the letter. You are already acquainted with
the intent of the voyage, which 1 have been two
years engaged in. The history of it I cannot give
you, nor indeed the world. Parts of it you would
comprehend, approve, and, I believe, admire ; parts
are incomprehensible, because not to be described. I
have seen and suffered a great deal, but I now have
my health and spirits in perfection.

" By my acquaintances in London my arrival was
announced to a society of noblemen and gentlemen,
who liad for some time been fruitlessly inquiring for
some person to travel through the continent of Africa.
I was asked, and consented to undertake the tour.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 293

The society have appropriated a sum of money to de-
fray the expenses. I dine with them collectively this
day week, finish the affair, and within the month shall
be on the move. My route will be from here to Paris,
thence to Marseilles, across the Mediterranean to
Alexandria in Egypt, and then to Grand Cairo. Be-
yond is unknown, and my discoveries begin. Where
they will terminate, and how, you shall know, if I sur-
vive. As we have now no minister from the United
States in London, and as I know of no certain me-
dium of conveyance, I cannot certainly promise you
letters from Africa. I can only say, that I will write
you from Grand Cairo, if I can find an opportunity.

" Before I leave town I intend to send you some
Tartar curiosities, and, if possible, also, a transcript
of the few rude remarks I made on my last tour.
The hints I have given respecting the history of man,
from circumstances and facts that have come within
my personal knowledge, you will find new and inter-
esting. They form data for investigation, but they
are better in my hands than in any other's, because no
other person has seen so much of Asia and America.
They might amuse you in the happy retirement,
which Mr Jarvis tells me you enjoy on Long Island.
My seeing this gentleman has been almost as good as
a visit to New York. Nothing in his account of our
family and friends has affected me so much, as the
mercantile misfortunes of your worthy brother. Sure-
ly the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the
strong. Did the pyramids of Egypt, which I shall
soon see, cover hearts as worthy as his, I should no
more style them monuments of human imbecility ; I

294 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

should worship before them. Mr Jarvis has not been
able to give me an exact account of his situation. He
only tells me, that he has failed in business and retired
to Jersey, where I think he ought to stay, for the
world is absolutely unworthy of him. I do not say
this, because he is my cousin, and shared with you
the earliest attachment of my heart. These are
things that I feel, and that the world has nothing to
do with, any more than it ought to have with him.
They are compliments, which his enemies would
make him, if he had any. I never knew so much
merit so unfortunate. I cannot reflect on his fate un-
impassioned. He should retire; if barely comfortable
it will be enough, for he cannot go from dignity. My
heart is on your side of the Atlantic. I know the
charms on Long Island, the additional ones of your
residence there, and the sweet accordance of recuhans
sub tegmine fagi. Do not think, because I have seen
much of the world, and must see more, that I have
forgotten America. I could as soon forget you, my-
self, my God.

" My travels have brought upon me a numerous
correspondence, which, added to the employments of
my new enterprise, leaves me little leisure. I am
alone in everything, and in most things so, because
nobody has been accustomed to think and act in trav-
elling matters as I do. I am sorry Mr Jarvis will go
so soon. Today is Saturday, and he will call on
Tuesday, to receive the things for you, and (.ake leave
of me. My time is wholly occupied, and it happens
that just at this moment I am the busiest with the
African Society. Among other things, I wish to send

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 295

you a copy of my Swedish portrait at Somerset
House. I have one by me, but it is a stupid thing.
It was taken by a boy, who is as dumb and deaf as
the portrait itself. He is, however, under the patron-
age of Sir Joshua Reynolds, the English Raphael.
The boy was sent to me by a country squire, who ac-
cidentally got acquainted with me at an inn, where I
lodged in London, and who has taken a wonderful
fancy to me, and begs to hang me up in his hall. This
one is still unfinished, and so is the one for the squire.
They are mere daubings. Jarvis says our Trumbull
is clever, and advises me to get him to copy the
Swedish drawing, which is not only a perfect likeness,
but a good painting. If I do according to his advice,
it cannot be soon ; and, indeed, I should not trouble
you, or myself, about this shadow of your friend, were
I sure of presenting him to you hereafter in substance.
I shall not have time to settle my affairs before Jarvis
goes, if it is tomorrow, for tomorrow I must be with
the African committee.

" Jarvis is this moment going. Adieu. — He will
not take the one hundred livres."

It may be well to add here, rather as a matter of
curiosity, than for any other purpose, his description
of the Siberian articles of clothing, which he sent to
Dr Ledyard by Mr Jarvis. He was. now going to a
climate, where he would have no occasion for a dress,
suited to the winters of Siberia.

" The dresses I send you," he writes, " are such as
I have worn through many a scene, and was glad to
get them. The surtout coat is made of reindeer
skin, and edged with the dewlap of the moose. Per-

296 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

haps you will wear this yourself in winter. It was
made for a riding coat, and I have rode both horses
and deer with it. The first cap is of the Siberian red
fox ; it is a travelling cap, and the form is entirely
Tartar. The second cap is Russian, consisting of
white ermine, and bordered with blue fox skin ; it
cost me at Yakutsk twentyfive roubles, which is four
guineas and one rouble. The surtout coat cost seven-
ty roubles ; the fox skin cap six roubles. The gloves
are made of the feet of the fox, and lined with the
Tartar hare, and cost five roubles. The frock is in
form and style truly Tartar. It was presented to me,
and came from the borders of the Frozen Ocean, at
the mouth of the river Kolyma. It is made of a
spotted reindeer calf ; the edging is the same as that
on the surtout. You will see, on the inside of the
skin, a number of spots ; these were occasioned by a
small insect bred there from the eggs of a species of
fly, which, together with the vast numbers of musqui-
tos, obliges this charming animal to migrate annually
north and south, as the seasons change.

" The boots are made also of reindeer skin, and
ornamented with European cloth ; the form is Tartar ;
they cost eight roubles. The socks for the boots are
made of the skin of an old reindeer. They are worn
on the inside of the boots, with the hair to the feet,
with or without stockings. These were presented to
me, and came from the borders of the Frozen Ocean.
The cloak, which they are wrapped up in, was made
in London. I travelled on foot with it in Denmark,
Sweden, Lapland, Finland, and the Lord knows
where. I have slept in it, eat in it, drank in it, fought

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 29?

in it, negotiated in it. Through every scene it has
been mj constant and hardy servant, from my depar-
ture til] my return to London. And now to give it an
asylum (for I have none), I send it to you. Lay it
up ; as soon as I can, I will call and lay myself up
with it. I have mentioned the prices of the above
articles, to give you a notion how dear fur dresses are,
even in the remotest parts of the vast dominions of
Russia. These clothes were not all that I wore last
winter ; I wore many others, and froze my nose and
ears after all. You have no idea of the excessive
cold in those regions."

The Society, in w^hose service Ledyard was novr
engaged, had its origin with a few individuals in Lon-
don, but the number of its members soon increased to
about two hundred, among whom were some of
the most eminent men in the kingdom. Their imme-
diate object was to promote discoveries in the inte-
rior of Africa, and a fund was raised by a sub-
scription from each member, for the purpose of
effecting that object. The Society was denominated
the African Association^ and was patronized by the
king. A committee was to be annually chosen by
ballot, whose duty it was to transact the affairs of the
Society, by taking charge of the funds, employing
persons to travel, collecting intelligence, and keeping
up a correspondence with various parts of Africa.
The first committee appointed, and that with which
Ledyard made his arrangements, consisted of Lord
Rawdon, the Bishop of Landaff", Sir Joseph Banks,
Mr Beaufoy, and Mr Steuart. Among the other mem-
bers, who joined the Society at the beginning, were
38

298 LIFE OF JOHN LED YARD.

Mr Addington, the Earl of Bute, General Conway,
the Duke of Grafton, Edward Gibbon, John Hunter,
Dr Lettsom, the Earl of Moira, the Duke of North-
umberland, Lord Sheffield, Benjamin Vaughan, and
Mr Wilberforce. An institution, supported bv names of
such weight and respectability, would naturally attract
public attention, and ensure all the success of which
the nature of its designs was susceptible.

For many ages the continent of Africa had been a
neglected portion of the globe, of which the rest of
the world had taken little account. The learning,
and splendor, and prowess of Egypt were departed ;
Carthage, with all its glory, had sunk into the dust ;
the proud monuments of Numidian greatness had
been blotted from the face of the earth, and almost
from the memory of man. The gloom of this scene
was heightened, not more by the ravages of time in
destroying what had been, than by the contrasts,
which succeeding changes had produced. A semibar-
barous population, gathered from the wrecks of fallen
nations, enemies to the arts and to the best social in-
terests of man, had gradually spread themselves over
the whole northern borders of Africa, and presented a
barrier to the hazards of enterprise, no less than to
the inroads of civilization. Whatever might be the
ardor for discovery and the disregard of danger, no-
body cared to penetrate into these regions, where all
was uncertainty, and were the chance of success bore
no proportion to the perils that must be encountered.

There is no question, that the northern half of
Africa was better known to the Romans, at the time
of Julius Caesar, than to the Europeans in the middle

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 299

of the eighteenth century. A few scattered names of
rivers, towns, and nations, occupied the map of the
interior, traced there by a hesitating hand, on the du-
bious authority of the Nubian geographer, Edrissi, and
the Spanish traveller, Leo Africanus. The rhymes
of Swift on this subject were not more witty than
true.

" Geographers, in Afric maps,
With savage pictures fill their gaps,
And o'er unhabitable downs
Place elephants for want of towns."

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, Leo pene-
trated as far as Timbuctoo and the Niger, but so im-
perfect were his descriptions even of what he saw,
that very little geographical knowledge was communi-
cated by them. He was on the banks of the Niger,
but it could not be ascertained from his account,
whether this river ran to the east or west, nor indeed,
whether it existed as a separate stream. In short,
down to the time when the African Association was
formed, almost the whole of this vast continent, its
geography and physical resources, its inhabitants,
governments, languages, were a desideratum in the his-
tory of nature and of man. It could not be doubted,
that many millions of human beings inhabited these
hidden regions. Nor were the character and condition
of these people, their institutions and social advance-
ment, mere matters of curiosity ; they had a relation
to the people of other parts of the globe, and, when
discovered and understood, might be turned to the
common advantage of the great human family. There

300 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

are no nations, that may not profit by an intercourse
between each other, either by an exchange of pro-
ducts peculiar to each, or by a reciprocal moral influ-
ence, or by both.

On these broad and benevolent principles the Socie-
ty for promotirsg discoveries in Africa was instituted,
and the scheme was worthy of the enlightened philan-
thropists, by whom it w^as devised. Ledyird's instruc-
tions were few, simple, and direct. He wrs to repair
first to Egypt, travel thence across the continent, make
such observations as he could, and report the results to
the Association. Everything was left to his discretion.
His past experience, the extraordinary energy of his
character, his disinterestedness, and the enthusiasm
with which he engaged in the present undertaking,
were all such as to ensure the confidence of his em-
ployers, and inspire them w^ith sanguine hopes.

As for himself, at no period of his life had he re-
flected with so much satisfaction on his condition, or
his prospects. Heretofore he had always been alone,
oppressed with poverty, and contending with an ad-
verse fate. But now he was free from want, patron-
ized by the first men in Great Britain, and engaged
at their solicitation, and under their auspices, in an
enterprise, fraught, it is true, w^ith many dangers, but
promising the glory of which he had ever been ambi-
tious, and opening to him a field of adventure, which
his imagination had pictured to him as the first to
be chosen, after he had discharged what he deemed a
paramount duty, in exploring the unknown parts of
the continent to which he owed his birth. When he
was departing from London for Egypt, he may be

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 301

said to have been, for the first time in his life, at the
summit of his wishes. All previous cares, defeats,
and disasters appear to have been forgotten, or swal-
lowed up in the deep interests of the present, and the
cherished anticipations of the future. A letter writ-
ten to his mother at this time will indicate the tone
of his spirits.

" Truly is it written, that the ways of God are
past finding out, and his decrees unsearchable. Is the
Lord thus great ? So also is he good. I am an
instance of it. I have trampled the world under my
feet, laughed at fear, and derided danger. Through
millions of fierce savages, over parching deserts, the
freezing north, the everlasting ice, and stormy seas,
have I passed without harm. How good is my God !
What rich subjects have I for praise, love, and adora-
tion !

" I am but just returned to England from my trav-
els of two years, and am going away into Africa to
examine that continent. I expect to be absent three
years. I shall be in Egypt as soon as I can get there,
and after that go into unknown parts. I have full
and perfect health. Remember me to my brothers
and sisters. Desire them to remember me, for, if
Heaven permits, I shall see them again. I pray God
to bless and comfort you all. Farewell."

At length the preparations for his departure were
completed. He had become well acquainted with the
views of the committee ; and a sufficient .amount of
money had been raised, by the subscriptions, to pro-
vide for the expenses of his journey to Egypt, and
to purchase such articles of merchandise as might

302 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

be found necessaiy to enable him to assume the char-
acter of a trader in a caravan to the interior, or for
travelling in anj other manner, which he should deem
most expedient when on the spot. The last letter he
wrote to America was a short one, dated at London,
on the twentyninth of June.

" I suppose that my letter and curiosities, sent by
Mr Jarvis, are now halfway over the Atlantic. Here
you have a little portrait, which I leave to the care of
his brother in town. Enclosed with it is a poor por-
trait of me, taken by the dumb boy mentioned in my
other letter. If it were anything like painting, I
would desire you to keep it. As it is, I beg you will
send it to ray mother. She will be as fond of it, as if
done by Guido. I would have sent it framed, if the
opportunity would have permitted. Tomorrow morn-
ing I set out for France. Adieu."

Accordingly he left London on the thirtieth of
June. Mr Beaufoy speaks of the interview he had
with him, just as he was setting off, and adds these
affecting remarks, as given in Ledyard's own words.

" ' I am accustomed,' said he, in our last conversa-
tion, ('twas on the morning of his departure for Afri-
ca), ' I am accustomed to hardships. I have known
both hune;er and nakedness to the utmost extremitv of
human suffering. I have known what it is to have
food given me as charity to a madman ; and 1 have at
times been obliged to shelter myself under the mise-
ries of that character, to avoid a heavier calamity.
My distresses have been greater than I have ever
owned, or ever will own to any man. Such evils are
terrible to bear ; but they never yet had power to

LIFE OF JOHxN LEDYARD. 303

turn me from my purpose. If 1 live, I will faithfully
perform, in its utmost extent, my engagement to the
society ; and if 1 perish in the attempt, my honor will
still be safe, for death cancels all bonds.' "

In Paris he met with Mr Jefferson, Lafayette, and
several others of his old friends, whom he had left
there three years before, and towards whom he enter-
tained sentiments of the warmest gratitude. He
continued at Paris seven or eight days, and then pro-
ceeded to Marseilles, where he took ship for Alexan-
dria. From this place he wrote to Mr Jefferson the
following letter.

" As 1 shall go to Cairo in a few days, from whence
it may be difficult for me to write to you, I do it here,
though unprepared. I am in good health and spirits,
and the prospects before me are flattering. This in-
telligence, with my wishes for your happiness and an
eternal remembrance of your goodness to me, must
form the only part of my letter of any consequence ;
except that I desire to be remembered to the Marquis
de la Fayette, his lady, Mr Short, and other friends.
Deducting the week I stayed at Paris, and two days
at Marseilles, I was only thirtyfour days from London
to this place.

" I am sorry to inform you, that I regret having
visited the gentleman you mentioned, and of haying
made use of your name. I shall ever think, though
he was extremely polite, that he rather strove to pre-
vent my embarking at Marseilles, than to facilitate it;
for, by bandying me about among the members of the
Chamber of Commerce, he had nearly, and very nearly,
lost me my passage ; and in the last ship from Mar-

504 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

seilles for the season. He knew better ; he knew
that the Chamber of Commerce had no business with
me ; and, besides, I only asked him if he could with-
out trouble address me to the captain of a ship bound
to Alexandria ; nothing more.

" Alexandria at large presents a scene more wretch-
ed, than I have witnessed. Poverty, rapine, murder,
tumult, blind bigotry, cruel persecution, pestilence !
A small town built on the ruins of antiquity, a"s re-
markable for its miserable architecture, as I suppose
the place once was for its good and great works of
that kind. Pompey's Pillar and Cleopatra's Obelisk
are now almost the only remains of remote antiquity.
They are both, and particularly the former, noble ob-
jects to contemplate, and are certainly more captivat-
ing from the contrast of the deserts and forlorn
prospects around them. No man of whatever turn of
mind can see the whole, without retiring from the
scene with a Sic transit gloria mundi.''^

Having passed ten days only at Alexandria, he pur-
sued his journey up the Nile to Cairo, where he
arrived on the nineteenth of August. Here again he
wrote to Mr Jefferson.

" I sent you a short letter from Alexandria. I be-
gin this without knowing where I shall close it, or
when I shall send it, or, indeed, whether I shall ever
send it. But I will have it ready, in case an opportu-
nity shall offer. Having been in Cairo only four days,
I have not seen much of particular interest for you ;
and, indeed, you will not expect much of this kind
from me. My business is in another quarter, and the
information I seek totally new. Anything from this
place would not be so.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 305

" At all events I shall never want a subject, when
it is to you I write. I shall never think my letter an
indifferent one, when it contains the declaration of
my gratitude and my affection for you ; and this, not-
withstanding you thought haili of me for being em-
ployed by an English Association, which hurt me
much while I was at Paris. You know your own
heart, and if my suspicions are groundless, forgive
them, since they proceed from the jealousy I have,
not to lose the regard you have in times past been
pleased to honor me with. You are not obliged to
esteem me, but I am obliged to esteem you, or to
take leave of my senses, and confront the opinions of
the greatest and best characters I know. If I cannot,
therefore, address myself to you as a man you regard,
I must do it as one that regards you for your own
sake, and for the sake of my country, which has set
me the example.

" I made my tour from Alexandria hy vv^ater, and
entered the Nile by the western branch of the mouths
of the river. I was five days coming to Cairo, but
this passage is generally made in four, and sometimes
in three days. You have heard and read much of the
Nile, and so had I, but when I saw it, I could not
conceive it to be the same. What eyes do travellers
see with ? Are they fools or rogues ? For Heaven's
sake, hear the plain truth about it. First, in regard
to its size. Obvious comparisons in such cases are
good. Do you know the river Connecticut ? Of all
the rivers I have seen, it most resembles that in size.
It is a little wider, and may on that account better
compare with the Thames. This is the mighty, the
39

306 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

sovereign of rivers, the vast Nile, that has been meta-
morphosed into one of the wonders of the world. Let
me be careful how I read, and above all how I read
ancient history. You have heard and read, too, much
of its inmidations. If the thousands of large and
small canals from it, and the thousands of men and
machines employed to transfer by artificial means the
water of the Nile to the meadows on its banks, if this
be the inundation that is meant, it is true ; any other is
false. It is not an inundating river. I came up the
river from the fifteenth to the twentieth of August,
and about the thirtieth the water will be at the height
of the freshet. When I left the river, its banks were
four, five, and six feet, above the water, and here in
town I am told they expect the Nile to be only one or
two feet higher at the most. This is a proof, if any
were wanted, that the river does not overflow its
banks.

" I saw the pyramids as I passed up the river, but
they were four or five leagues off. It is warm weather
here at present, and were it not for the north winds,
that cool themselves in their passage over the Medi-
terranean, and blow upon us, we should be in a sad
situation. As it is, I think I have felt it hotter at
Philadelphia in the same month. The city of Cairo
is about half as large in size as Paris, and is said to
contain seven hundred thousand inhabitants. You
will therefore anticipate the fact of its narrow streets
and high houses. In this number are contained one
hundred thousand Copts, or descendants of the an-
cient Egyptians. There are likewise Christians, and
those of different sects from Jerusalem, Damascus,
Aleppo, and other parts of Syria.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 307

" With regard to my journey, I can only tell you
with any certainty, that I shall be able to pass as far
as the western boundaries of what is called Turkish
Nubia to the town of Sennaar. I expect to get there
with some surety. Beyond that all is dark before me.
My wishes and designs are to pass in that parallel
across the continent. I will write from Sennaar if
I can.

" You know the disturbances in this unhappy coun-
try, and the nature of them. The Beys, revolted
from the Bashaw, have possession of Upper Egypt,
and are now encamped with an army, pitiful enough
indeed, about three miles south of Cairo. They say
to the Bashaw, ' Come out of your city and fight us ; '
and the Bashaw says, ' Come out of your entrench-
ments and fight me.' You know this revolt is a
stroke in Russian politics. Nothing merits more the
whole force of burlesque, than both the poetic and
prosaic legends of this country. Sweet are the songs
of Egypt on paper. Who is not ravished with gums,
balms, dates, figs, pomegranates, circassia, and syca-
mores, without recollecting that amidst these are dust,
hot and fainting winds, bugs, musquitoes, spiders, flies,
leprosy, fevers, and almost universal blindness ? I am
in perfect health. Adieu for the present, and believe
me to be, with all possible esteem and regard, your
sincere friend."

308 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

CHAPTER XIV.

Remarks on the appearance of the country in passing up the NUe. — Condition
of a Christian at Cairo. — Interview with the Aga. — Miscellaneous observations
on the customs of the Arabs, and other races of people found in Cairo. — In-
formation respecting the interior of Africa. — Visit to the caravans and slave
markets. — The traveller's reflections on his condition and prospects. —
His last letter to Mr Jefferson. — ^Joins a caravan and prepares to depart for
Sennaar. — He is taken suddenly iU. — His death. — Account of his person and
character.

As he was furnished with letters of recommenda-
tion to the British Consul at Cairo, he found little
difficulty in procuring such accommodations as he de-
sired, and such information as enabled him to direct
his attention immediately to the great object of his
mission. His intention was to join a caravan, bound
to the interior, and to continue with it to the end of
its route. Beyond this he must be guided by circum-
stances, which could not be foreseen, and concerning
which no calculation was to be made. He adopted a
a dress suited to the character he was to assume, and
began in earnest to study the manners of the people
around him, and particularly of the traders in the
caravans, which were then at Cairo. Three months
were passed in this occupation. He kept a journal of
whatever he deemed most worthy of record, which
was afterwards transmitted to the African Association.
Such parts of the journal, as are contained in the
Proceedings of that body, will here be added. They
bear the peculiar marks of the author's mind, his
habits of observation, his boldness of thought and
opinion, and his quick perception of resemblance and
contrast in the various races of men.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 309

'■''August 14th. — I left Alexandria at midnight, with
a pleasant breeze north ; and was, at sunrise next
morning, at the mouth of the Nile, which has a bar of
sand across it, and soundings as irregular as the sea,
which is raised upon it by the contentions of counter
currents and winds.

" The view in sailing up the Nile is very confined,
unless from the top of the mast, or some other emi-
nence, and then it is an unbounded plain of excellent
land, miserably cultivated, and yet interspersed with
a great number of villages, both on its banks and as
far along the meadows as one can see in any direc-
tion. The river is also filled with boats passing and
repassing — boats all of one kind, and navigated in one
manner ; nearly also of one size, the largest carrying
ten or fifteen tons. On board of these boats are seen
onions, watermelons, dates, sometimes a horse, a
camel (which lies down in the boat), sheep, goats,
dogs, men, and women. Towards evening and morn-
ing they have music.

" Whenever we stopped at a village, I used to walk
into it with my conductor, who, being a Musselman,
and a descendant from Mahomet, wore a green tur-
ban, and was therefore respected, and 1 was sure of
safety ; but, in truth, dressed as I was in a common
Turkish habit, I believe I should have walked as safe-
ly without him. I saw no propensity among the in-
habitants to incivility. The villages are most misera-
ble assemblages of poor little mod huts, flung very
close together without any kind of order, full of dust,
lice, fleas, bugs, flies, and all the curses of Moses ;
people poorly clad, the youths naked ; in such respects,
they rank infinitely below any savages I ever saw.

310 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

" The common people wear nothing but a shirt and
drawers, and they are always blue. Green is the
royal, or holy color ; none but the descendants of
Mahomet, if I am rightly informed, being permitted
to wear it.

^^ August 19th. — From the little town where we
landed, the distance to Cairo is about a mile and a
half, which we rode on asses ; for the ass in this coun-
try is the Christian's horse, as he is allowed no other
animal to ride upon. Indeed I find the situation of a
Christian, or, what they more commonly call here, a
Frank, to be very, very humiliating, ignominious, and
distressing. No one, by a combination of any causes,
can reason down to such effects as experience teaches
us do exist here ; it being impossible to conceive, that
the enmity I have alluded to could exist between
men; or, in fact, that the same species of beings,
from any causes whatever, should ever think and act
so differently as the Egyptians and the English do.

" I arrived at Cairo early in the morning, on the
nineteenth of August, and went to the house of the
Venetian Consul, Mr Rosetti, charge d'affaires for the
English Consul here. After dinner, not being able to
find any other lodging, and receiving no very pressing
invitation from Mr Rosetti, to lodge with him, I went
to a convent. This convent consists of missionaries,
sent by the Pope to propagate the Christian faith, or
at least to give shelter to Christians. The Christians
here are principally from Damascus ; the convent is
governed by the order of Recollets ; a number of
English, as well as other European travellers, have
lodged there.

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 311

" August 26th. — This day I was introduced by
Rosetti to the Aga Mahommed, the confidential minis-
ter of Ismael, the most powerful of the four ruling
Beys. He gave me his hand to kiss, and with it the
promise of letters, protection, and support, through
Turkish Nubia, and also to some chiefs far inland.
In a subsequent conversation, he told me I should see
in my travels a people, who had power to transmute
themselves into the forms of different animals. He
asked me what I thought of the affair. I did not like
to render the ignorance, simplicity, and credulity of
the Turk apparent. I told him, that it formed a part
of the character of all savages to be great necroman-
cers ; but that I had never before heard of any so
great, as those which he had done me the honor to
describe ; that it had rendered me more anxious to be
on my voyage, and if I passed among them, I would,
in the letter I promised to write to him, give him a
more particular account of them, than he had hitherto
had. He asked me how I could travel, without the
language of the people where I should pass ? I told
him, with vocabularies. I might as well have read to
him a page of Newton's Principia. He returned to
his fables again. Is it not curious, that the Egyptians
(for I speak of the natives of the country, as well as
of him, when I make the observation), are still such
dupes to the arts of sorcery ? Was it the same peo-
ple who built the pyramids ?

" I cannot understand that the Turks have a better
opinion of our mental powers, than we have of theirs ;
but they say of us, that we are ' a people who carry
our minds on our fingers'' eiids ; ' meaning, that we

312 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

put them in exercise constantly, and render them sub-
servient to all manner of purposes, and with celerity,
despatch, and ease, do what we do.

" I suspect the Copts to have been the origin of the
Negro race ; the nose and lips correspond with those
of the Negro. The hair, whenever I can see it
among the people here (the Copts), is curled ; not
close like the Negroes, but like the Mulattoes. I ob-
serve a greater variety of color among the human
species here, than in any other country ; and a greater
variety of feature, than in any other country not pos-
sessing a greater degree of civilization. 1 have seen
an Abyssinian woman, and a Bengal man ; the color
is the same in both ; so are their features and persons.

" I have seen a small mummy ; it has what I call
wampum-work on it. It appears as common here as
among the Tartars. Tattooing is as prevalent among
the Arabs of this place, as among the South Sea
Islanders. It is a little curious, that the women here
are more generally than in any other part of the world
tattooed on the chin, with perpendicular lines descend-
ing from the under lip to the chin, like the women on
the Northwest Coast of America. It is also a custom
here to stain the nails red, like the Cochin Chinese,
and the northern Tartars. The mask, or veil, that
the women here wear, resembles exactly that worn
by the priests at Otaheite, and those seen at the
Sandwich Islands.

" I have not yet seen the Arabs make use of a tool,
like our axe or hatchet ; but what they use for such
purposes, as we do our hatchet and axe, is in the form
of an adze, and is a form we found most agreeable to

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 313

the South Sea islanders. I see no instance of a tool
formed designedly for the use of the right or left
hand particularly, as the cotogon is among the Yakut!
Tartars.

" There is certainly a very remarkable affinity be-
tween the Russian and Greek dress. The fillet round
the temples of the Greek and Russian women is a
circumstance in dress, that perhaps would strike no-
body as it does me ; and so of the wampura-work too,
which is also found among them both. They spin
here with the distaff and spindle only, like the French
peasantry, and others in Europe ; and the common Arab
loom is upon our principle, though rude. I saw today
an Arab woman white, like the white Indians in the
South Sea islands, and at the Isthmus of Darien«
These kind of people all look alike. Among the
Greek women here, I find the identical Archangel
headdress.

" Their music is instrumental, consisting of a drum
and pipe, both which resemble those two instruments
in the South Seas. The drum is exactly like the
Otaheite drum ; the pipe is made of cane, and con-
sists of a long and short tube joined ; the music re-
sembles very much the bagpipe, and is pleasant. All
their music is concluded, if not accompanied, by the
clapping of hands. I think it singular, that the
women here make a noise with their mouths like
frogs, and that this frog music is always made at wed-
dings ; and I believe on all other occasions of merri-
ment, where there are women.

" It is remarkable, that the dogs here are of just the
same species found among the Otaheitaiis. It is also
40

314 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

remarkable, that in one village I saw exactly the same
machines used for diversion as in Russia. I forget the
Russian name for it. It is a large kind of wheel, on
the extremities of which there are suspended seats, in
which people are whirled round over and under each
other.

" The women dress their hair behind, exactly in the
same manner in which the Avomen of the Kalmuk
Tartars dress theirs.

"In the history of the kingdom of Benin, in
Guinea, the chiefs are called Aree Roee, or street
kings. Among the islands in the South Sea, Ota-
heite, and others, they call the chiefs Arees, and the
great chiefs Aree le Hoi. I think this curious ; and
so I do, that it is a custom of the Arabs to spread a
blanket, when they would invite any one to eat or
rest with them. The American Indians spread the
beaver skins on such occasions. The Arabs of the
deserts, like the Tartars, have an invincible attach-
ment to liberty ; no arts will reconcile them to any
other life, or form of government, however modified.
This is a character given me here of the Arabs. It
is singular, that the Arab language has no word for
liberty, although it has for slaves. The Arabs, like
the New Zealanders, engage with a long, strong
spear.

^' I have made the best inquiries I have been able,
since I have been here, of the nature of the country
before me ; of Sennaar, Darfoor, Wangara, of Nubia,
Abyssinia, of those named, or unknown by name. I
should have been happy to have sent you better infor-
mation of those places, than I am yet able to do. It

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 315

will appear very singular to you in England, that we
in Egypt are so ignorant of countries, which we annu-
ally visit. The Egyptians know as little of geogra-
phy, as the generality of the French ; and, like them,
sing, dance, and traffic without it.

" I have the best assurances of a certain and safe
conduct, by the return of the caravan that is arrived
from Sennaar ; and Mr Rosetti tells me, that the letters
1 shall have from the Aga here, will insure me of
being conveyed, from hand to hand, to my journey's
end. The Mahometans in Africa are what the Rus-
sians are in Siberia, a trading, enterprising, supersti-
tious, warlike set of vagabonds, and wherever they
are set upon going, they will and do go ; but they
neither can nor do make voyages merely commercial,
or merely religious, across Africa ; and where we do
not find them in commerce, we find them not at all.
They cannot, however vehemently pushed on by reli-
gion, afford to cross the continent without trading by
the way.

" October 14th. — I went today to the marketplace,
where they vend the black slaves, that come from to-
wards the interior parts of Africa. There were two
hundred of them together, dressed and ornamented as
in their country. The appearance of a savage in
every region is almost the same. There were very
few men among them ; this indicates that they are
prisoners of war. They have a great many beads,
and other ornaments about them, that are from the
East. I was told by one of them, that they came
from the west of Sennaar, fifty five days' journey, which
may be about four or five hundred miles. A Negro

316 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

chief said, the Nile had its source in his countr}'. In
general they had their hair plaited in a great number
of small detached plaits, none exceeding in length six
or eight inches ; the hair was filled with grease and
dirt, purposely daubed on.

" October 16th. — I have renewed my visit today,
and passed it more agreeably than yesterday ; for yes-
terday I was rudely treated. The Franks are prohib-
ited to purchase slaves, and therefore the Turks do not
like to see them in the market. Mr Rosetti favored
me with one of his running charge d'affaires to accom-
pany me ; but having observed yesterday among the
ornaments of the Negroes a variety of beads, and
wanting to know from what country they came, I re-
quested Mr Rosetti, previously to my second visit, to
show me from his store samples of Venetian beads.
He showed me samples of fifteen hundred different
kinds ; after this I set out.

" The name of the country these savages come from
is Darfoor, and is well known on account of the slave
trade, as well as of that in gum and elephants' teeth.
The appearance of these Negroes declares them to be
a people, in as savage a state as any people can be ;
but not of so savage a temper, or of that species of
countenance, that indicates savage intelligence. They
appear a harmless wild people ; but they are mostly
young women.

" The beads they are ornamented with are Vene-
tian ; and they have some Venetian brass medals,
which the Venetians make for trade. The beads are
worked wampum- wise. I know not where they got
the marine shells they worked among their beads, nor

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 317

how they could have seen white men. I asked them
if they would use me well in their country, if I should
visit it ? They said, Yes ; and added, that they should
make a king of me, and treat me with all the
delicacies of their country. Like the Egyptian wo-
men, and like most other savages, they stick on orna-
ments wherever they can, and wear, like them, a great
ring in the nose, either from the cartilage, or from the
side ; they also rub on some black kind of paint round
the eyes, like the Egyptian women. They are a
sizeable, well-formed people, quite black, with what,
I believe, we call the true Guinea face, and with curl-
ed short hair ; but not more curled or shorter than I
have seen it among the Egyptians ; but in general
these savages plait it in tassels plastered with clay or
paint. Among some of them the hair is a foot long,
and curled, resembling exactly one of our mops. The
prevailing color, where it can be seen, is a black and
red mixed. I think it would make any hair curl, even
Uncle Toby's wig, to be plaited and plastered as this
is. This caravan, which I call the Darfoor caravan,
is not very rich. The Sennaar is the rich caravan.

" October 19th. — I went yesterday to see if more
of the Darfoor caravan had arrived ; but they were
not. I wonder why travellers to Cairo have not
visited these slave markets, and conversed with the
Jelabs, or travelling merchants of these caravans;
both are certainly sources of great information. The
eighth part of the money expended on other accounts,
might here answer some good solid purpose. For my
part, I have not expended a crown, and I have a better
idea of the people of Africa, of its trade, of the posi-

318 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

tion of places, the nature of the country, and manner
of travelling, than ever I had by any other means ;
and, I believe, better than any other means would
afford me.

" October 25th. — I have been again to the slave
market ; but neither the Jelabs (a name which in this
country is given to all travelling merchants), nor the
slaves are yet arrived in town ; they will be here to-
morrow. I met two or three in the street, and one
with a shield and spear. I have understood today,
that the king of Sennaar is himself a merchant, and
concerned in the Sennaar caravans. The merchant
here, who contracts to convey me to Sennaar, is Pro-
curer at Cairo to the King of Sennaar ; this is a good
circumstance, and one I knew not of till today. Mr
Rosetti informed me of it. He informed me also,
that this year the importation of Negro slaves into
Egypt will amount to tw^enty thousand. The caravans
from the interior countries of Africa do not arrive here
uniformly every year ; they are sometimes absent two
or three years.

" Among a dozen of Sennaar slaves, I saw three
personable men of a good bright olive color, of viva-
cious and intelligent countenances ; but they had all
three (which first attracted my notice) heads uncom-
monly formed ; the forehead was the narrowest, the
longest, and most protuberant I ever saw. Many of
these slaves speak a few words of the Arab language ;
but whether they learned them before or since their
captivity I cannot tell.

" A caravan goes from here to Fezzan, which they
call a journey of fifty days ; and from Fezzan to

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 319

Tombuctou, which they call a journey of ninety days.
The caravans travel about twenty miles a day, which
makes the distance on the road from here to Fezzan,
one thousand miles ; and from Fezzan to Tombuctou,
one thousand eight hundred miles. From here to
Sennaar is reckoned six hundred miles. I have been
waiting several days to have an interview with the
Jelabs, who go from hence to Sennaar. I am told that
they carry, in general, trinkets ; but among other
things soap, antimony, red linen, razors, scissars, mir-
rors, beads ; and, as far as I can yet learn, they bring
from Sennaar elephants' teeth, the gum called here
gum Sennaar, camels, ostrich feathers, and slaves.

" Wan^ara is talked of here as a place producing
much gold, and as a kingdom ; all accounts, and there
are many, agree in this. The King of Wangara
(whom I hope to see in about three months after
leaving this) is said to dispose of just what quantity
he pleases of his gold ; sometimes a great deal, and
sometimes little or none ; and this, it is said, he does
to prevent strangers knowing how rich he is, and that
he may live in peace."

In a letter to the Association are expressed his un-
diminished zeal in their cause, the high motives which
impelled him onward, and his utter indifference to
everything but the success of his undertaking.

" Money ! it is a vile slave ! I have at present an
economy of a more exalted kind to observe. I have
the eyes of of some of the first men of the first king-
dom on earth turned upon me. I am engaged by
those very men, in the most important object that any
private individual can be engaged in. I have their

320 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

approbation to acquire or to lose ; and their esteem,
also, which I prize beyond everything, except the in-
dependent idea of serving mankind. Should rashness
or desperation carry me through, whatever fame the
vain and injudicious might bestow, I should not ac-
cept of it ; it is the good and great I look too ; fame
bestowed by them is altogether different, and is closely
allied to a ' Well done ' from God ; but rashness will
not be likely to carry me through, any more than timid
caution. To find the necessary medium of conduct, to
vary and apply it to contingencies, is the economy I
allude to ; and if I succeed by such means, men of
sense in any succeeding epoch will not blush to follow
me, and perfect those discoveries, which I have only
abilities to trace out roughly, or a dispositition to at-
tempt. A Turkish sopha has no charms for me ; if it
had, I could soon obtain one here. Believe me, a single
' Well done ' from your Association has more worth in
it to me, than all the trappings of the East ; and what
is still more precious, is, the pleasure I have in the
justification of my own conduct at the tribunal of my
own heart."

On the fifteenth of November he again wrote to
Mr Jefferson as follows.

" This is my third letter to you from Egypt. I
should certainly write to the Marquis de la Fayette,
if I knew where to find him. I speak of him often
among the French at Cairo. But if our news here,
with respect to the affairs of France, be authentic, he
would hardly find time to read my letter, if his active
spirit is employed in the conflict in proportion to its
powers. It is possible, however, that my compliments

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 321

may reach him, and 1 desire it may be through your
means. Tell him that I love him, and that the French
patriots in Cairo call on the name of Suffrein and
La FayettCj the one for point-blank honesty, and the
other as the soldier and the courtier. The old vete-
ran in finance andtcivil economy, Mr Necker, is wel-
comed to the helm.

" I have novi^ been in Cairo three months, and it is
within a few days only, that I have had any certainty
of being able to proceed in the prosecution of my
voyage. The difficulties, that have attended me,
have occupied me day and night. I should otherwise
not only have written to you oftener, but should have
given you some little history of what I have heard and
seen. My excuse now is, that I am doing up my
baggage for my journey, and most curious baggage it
is. I shall leave Cairo in two or three days,

" Perhaps f should not have pleased you, if I had
written much in detail. I think I know your taste
for ancient history ; it does not comport with what
experience teaches me. The enthusiastic avidity
with which you search for treasures in Egypt, and I
suppose all over with the East, ought injustice to the
world, and your own generous propensities, to be modi-
fied, corrected, and abated. I should have written
you the truth. It is disagreeable to hear it, when
habit has accustomed one to falsehood. You have
the travels of Savary in this country. Burn them.
Without entering into a discussion, that would be too
long for a letter, I cannot tell you why I think most
historians have written more to satisfy themselves,
than to benefit others. I am certainly very angry

322 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

with those, who have written of the countries where
I have travelled, and of this particularly. They have
all more or less deceived me. In some cases perhaps
it is difficult to determine, which does the most mis-
chief, the self love of the historian, or the curiosity of
the reader ; but both together have led us into errors,
that it is now too late to rectify. You will think my
head is turned to write you such a letter from Egypt,
but the reason is, I do not intend it shall be turned.

" I have passed my time disagreeably here. Reli-
gion does more mischief in Egypt than all other
things, and here it has always done more than in most
other places. The humiliating situation of a Frank
would be insupportable to me, except for my voyage.
It is a shame to the sons of Europe, that they should
suffer such arrogance at the hands of a banditti of
ignorant fanatics. I assure myself, that even your
curiosity and love of antiquity would not detain you
in Egypt three months.

" From Cairo I am to travel southwest about three
hundred leagues to a black king. Then my present
conductors will leave me to my fate. Beyond, I sup-
pose I shall go alone. I expect to cut the continent
across between the parallels of twelve and twenty
degrees of north latitude. If possible, I shall write you
from the kingdom of this black gentleman. If not,
do not forget me in the interval of time, which may
pass during my voyage from thence to Europe, and as
likely to France as anywhere. I shall not forget you ;
indeed, it will be a consolation to think of you in my
last moments. Be happy."

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 323

This is the last letter, which Ledyard is known to
have written, either to Mr Jefferson, or to any other
person. He wrote to the secretary of the Association,
probably by the same conveyance, stating that, after
much vexations delay, all things were at last ready
for his departure, and that his next communication
might be expected from Sennaar. The Aga had given
him letters of recommendation, his passage was en-
gaged, the terms settled, and the day fixed, on which
the caravan was to leave Cairo. He wrote in good
spirits and apparent health, and the confidence of the
Association had never been more firm, nor their hopes
more sanguine, than at this juncture. Their extreme
disappointment may well be imagined, therefore, when
the next letters from Egypt brought the melancholy
intelligence of his death.

During his residence at Cairo, his pursuits had made
it necessary for him to be much exposed to the heat
of the sun, and to other deleterious influences of the
climate, at the most unfavorable season of the year.
The consequence was an attack of a bilious complaint,
which he thought to remove by the common remedy
of vitriolic acid. Whether this was administered by
himself, or by some other person, is not related, but
the quantity taken was so great, as to produce violent
and burning pains, that threatened to be fatal, unless
immediate relief could be procured. This was at-
tempted by a powerful dose of tartar emetic. But all
was in vain. The best medical skill in Cairo was
called to his aid without effect, and he closed his life
of vicissitude and toil, at the moment when he imagin-
ed his severest cares were over, and the prospects

324 LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD.

before him were more flattering, than they had been at
any former period. He was decently interred, and all
suitable respect was paid to his obsequies by such
friends, as he had found among the European residents
in the capital of Egypt.

The precise day of his death is not known, but the
event is supposed to have happened towards the end
of November, 1788., He was then in the thirtyeighth
year of his age. {[_l1- ^^'''■n, /J^j,

So much has been drawn from the traveller's own
writings in the preceding narrative, that nothing can
be added to make the reader better acquainted with,
the constitution of his mind, the qualities of his heart, or
the characteristics of his genius. Mr Beaufoy's de-
scription of him is short, but descriminating, and the
more worthy of regard, as having been founded on
personal knowledge.

"To those who have never seen Mr Ledyard it
may not, perhaps, be uninteresting to know, that his
person, though scarcely exceeding the middle size,
was remarkably expressive of activity and strength ;
and that his manners, though unpolished, were neither
uncivil nor unpleasiog. Little attentive to difference
of rank, he seemed to consider all men as his equals,
and as such he respected them. His genius, though
uncultivated and irregular, was original and compre-
hensive. Ardent in his wishes, yet calm in his delib-
e'rations ; daring in his purposes, but guarded in his
measures ; impatient of control, yet capable of strong
endurance; adventurous beyond the conception of
ordinary men, yet wary and considerate, and attentive
to all precautions, he appeared to be formed by Na-
ture for achievements of hardihood and peril."

LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD. 326

His letters afford convincing proofs of his kind and
amiable disposition, gratitude his to benefactors, hu-
manity, and disinterestedness. This last virtue, in-
deed, he practised to an excess. No man ever acted
with less regard to self, or on a broader scale of
philanthropy and general good. That he finally ac-
complished little, compared with the magnitude of his
designs, was his misfortune, but not his fault. Had
he been less eccentric, however, in some of his pe-
culiarities, more attentive to his immediate interests,
more regardful of the force of circumstances, it is
possible that his efforts would have been rewarded
with better success. The acts of his life demand
notice less on account of their results, than of the
spirit with which they were performed, and the un-
common traits of character which prompted to their
execution. Such instances of decision, energy, perse-
verance, fortitude, and enterprise, have rarely been
witnessed in the same individual ; and in the exercise
of these high attributes of mind, his example cannot
be too much admired or imitated.

THE END.

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